


Iaruyg uz lxi Mxehcum - Eulogy of the Shadows

by MegumitheGreat



Category: Tales of Zestiria
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Attempt at horror, Costume Parties & Masquerades, Hachishakusama, Horror, Masquerade!UA, More tags later, Multi, Obelisk, Shadow battles, Story is based on a dream I had
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-04
Updated: 2017-07-16
Packaged: 2018-09-28 05:33:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 30,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10074437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MegumitheGreat/pseuds/MegumitheGreat
Summary: Sorey and company investigate a strange stone obelisk near Lefay before being transported to another world.  Oyun, the mayor of the only town in this world, invites them, but things are not always as they seem.





	1. The Myth of the Shadow Stone

**Author's Note:**

> My mom suggested I write about the dream I had two nights ago, and a friend seconded it. I have the gist of it, and I still remember the finer details. The story was a toss up between Zestiria or FF15 and Free and Yuri on Ice, but because I haven't finished FF15 yet and Free/YoI aren't supernatural worlds, Zestiria was the only option. Still I'm kind of excited to write about it, and since I have a Tumblr now, I may add sketches. (Like a sketch for this chapter will come at a later date.) I really want to draw Sorey and his friends in Venetian masks.

“What’s this thing?” Sorey asked.

He and Rose stared at a sizeable chunk of what seemed to be obsidian neatly packed into the side of a boulder. Alisha had told them about it when she was passing through to try and rectify the confusion between Hyland and Rolance. She asked them not to investigate any further than finding it without her since she was also curious about what it was for. An eerie amount of malevolence seeped from it like sap from a tree. Slow and sticky, it clung to them like the stench of death. The seraphim that had been residing within Sorey had emerged by his side, Lailah the fire seraph and Prime Lord recoiling from the negative energy coming from the stone.

“The malevolence coming from this stone doesn’t feel the same as Heldalf’s,” she observed. “It’s almost otherworldly.”

“That’s not saying much since Heldalf could be considered from another world,” Zaveid added. “The little princess said we can’t do anything until she gets here, so we’ll have to stay put.”

Sorey pouted. Of course, being one of the two archaeologists of the group, he wanted to go ahead and begin to decode the history and mystery of the obsidian obelisk. He kept glancing between his friends and the object of interest until he finally couldn’t handle being around it and not touching it.

“I know Alisha said not to touch it, but I really want to see what it’s all about!” he whined. He made his way to it.

“Whoa, since when did you impulsively go and touch things?” Rose asked him.

Sorey placed his entire hand on the shiny circle at the top of the stone’s face, and a bright light flashed. The seraphim regrouped inside of him while Rose clung to his arm. A powerful burst of wind flared around them. In a matter of seconds, they were gone.

***

There was a little-known myth that circulated among the people of the Glenwood Continent through the ages. Somewhere in the land was an obsidian obelisk that housed the shadows of the Shepherd’s companions. That obelisk was between Lefay, the Trial of Water, and the abandoned village of Kylfe.

Shadows were the reflections of the Shepherd’s companions to the very core of their existence. Seraphim were incapable of generating malevolence, but they were still prone to evil emotions such as hatred and jealousy. The obelisk worked similar to a camera obscura, snapping ethereal pictures of Sorey’s friends and immortalizing the negative emotions in their hearts and fashioning their copies out of pure malevolence. Those evil beings were housed within the obelisk until the Shepherd was foolish enough one day to enter their cage of a world. If he was lucky enough or skilled enough to defeat the shadows, as one version of the myth extended, a path would open to a new place where he would be congratulated and welcomed as a mighty hero. Other stories told otherwise—the Shepherd was doomed to be trapped within the darkness, slowly becoming a hellion himself that would be trapped in the hidden world of shadows.

When Sorey touched the obelisk, he had opened the portal that was rumored to transport him to the world of shadows. Rose clutched the fabric of his Shepherd’s garb tightly in her fists, and the seraphim tried their hardest to resist the pulses of darkness that threatened to expose them to the malevolence.

They opened their eyes to find themselves in an arena that resembled the Crucibles of Malevolence that were scattered throughout the Glenwood Continent. A solid silhouette of Alisha stood before them with her spear drawn.

“Alisha?” Mikleo uttered, surprised that she was there with them.

“No, idiot, it’s a shadow,” Edna corrected. “Nothing more than a puppet standing in her place, and she’s not on our side. Haven’t you heard of them?”

“So the myth was true about this place,” Lailah said quietly. She pulled out her papers. “Everyone, we must defeat the shadows that come forth. If we fall here, I fear something worse than Heldalf may be released unto the land!”

Sorey and Rose readied themselves for battle. Edna and Lailah tried to assimilate into them while Mikleo and Zaveid were out on the field, but the forces within the obelisk prevented them. It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing since they were allowed more firepower, but the arena was cramped for seven beings to be present at once, therefore requiring that they took special care not to hurt each other with friendly fire. Still, six against one was an opportunity they couldn’t let pass.

Sorey and Rose took the initiative. Alisha wasn’t skilled at speed, making Rose’s dexterous attacks a priceless asset in the battle. The merchant-assassin asked that she take her on alone so that they wouldn’t waste energy. But as she chipped away at her health, Lailah spotted growing masses of darkness in the farthest edges of the arena.

“Guess it was too good to be true to only fight one of these things,” Zaveid smirked. “But I’m always up for a good challenge. Whaddya say, Mickeyboy?”

Edna and Mikleo’s shadow finally took shape, and the real Mikleo summoned his staff. He vowed, “I will do whatever it takes to protect Sorey.”

“Good to hear! Let’s dance!”

Zaveid whipped at Edna’s shadow with his pendulum as Mikleo parried his shadow’s attacks with the shaft of his staff. Edna let out a sigh watching the water seraph fight so inefficiently. She mustered up her power, stomping the ground. A pillar of stone shot up from underneath the shadow. Lailah threw flaming papers that burned it and the others. Sorey watched them proudly before he noticed he was targeted. Two more shadows—Lailah and Dezel—formed behind him.

“Sorey!” Rose called out as she finished off Alisha’s shadow. She flung one of her daggers between the shadows. “Don’t let your guard down!”

Lailah’s shadow used one of her artes, but Mikleo swiftly fired a projectile made of water at her to stun her. The strategy was to take on the elements they were strong against, but who was to say that two shadows wouldn’t try to overpower any one of them? They had to watch out for each other in addition to themselves.

“ _Luzrov Rulay!_ ” Sorey called out. His water seraph stopped fighting with his doppelganger, closing his eyes as he sighed. He looked back at Sorey before transforming into a blue orb that shot into Sorey’s chest. The Water Armatus adorned him in cerulean and ivory and gold, and the Sacred Bow glowed with the power of water. “Let’s end this!”

“Wait!” a man’s voice called from behind the shadows.

All of the fight ceased at once. The shadows lowered their weapons.

“Please, Lord Shepherd, please have mercy on our people,” the man pleaded. He was only slightly taller than Sorey but as thin as Mikleo. He had shoulder-length wavy black hair and shining black eyes. He wore a black suit and a black top hat and circle-framed glasses. “I have been awaiting your arrival, Lord Shepherd.”

Sorey was confused. There was certainly no indication that there was someone living inside of the stone, and the man standing before his group wasn’t emitting malevolence. He couldn’t imagine such a frail man exuding any sort of evilness, but he never quite liked the sound of that form of greeting ever since he encountered people like Chancellor Bartlow.

Mikleo stood behind him after de-Armatizing from him, his hand discreetly holding onto the garb. He wasn’t sure about this man; none of them were. Lailah stepped forward to ask:  
“Who are you?”

The man bowed. “ _Sd temi om Oyun_ ,” he slowly said. Sorey and Mikleo’s eyes widened. “My name is Oyun,” the man said again in their familiar language. “I am the chief of this town, or perhaps mayor would be more suitable.”

The naïve Shepherd couldn’t get past that the man that had approached them in the midst of battle spoke in the Ancient Tongue. He wanted to talk more with him and expand his knowledge. He wanted to learn how to properly use it. He wanted to become the archaeologist that could translate all of the forgotten monoliths in the world.

“It’s rare that someone as young as you becomes a village chief _and_ knows the Ancient Tongue,” Edna dubiously said. “How did you learn it?”

Sorey inched towards him with anticipation. He had to know!

“I learned just like anyone learns. I read it in my many books,” Oyun smiled.

“Books, eh? Those are pretty hard to come by,” Rose said. “We don’t see too many of those on the market anymore.”

Oyun waved towards a hall that was shrouded in the darkness of the arena. He offered to show them all he had in his town. He didn’t stop smiling at them, or more specifically, at Sorey. He wanted them to follow him so he could prove that he had learned it and many other things about Shepherds and Squires and seraphim.

Without a second thought, Sorey walked beside him towards his town. He asked him about the mechanizations of the Ancient Tongue, how he could improve his translations, and about the possibility of reintroducing the language into the works of scholars for years to come. Oyun answered his excited questions with a reserve that only urged him to ask more. Mikleo, who had spent his entire life thus far with the young brunet, couldn’t help but become jealous of Oyun, yet he had to admire him and how he could so calmly answer his questions and be so in-depth that he wished he was as proficient as him in the field of history.

“Mikleo, do you believe this? Oyun’s going to teach me about the Ancient Tongue! You’ve got to get in on this!” Sorey celebrated.

Rose glared at Oyun. She wasn’t opposed to friendliness, but there was something off-putting about it. She was used to meeting all sorts of people, but this man dressed in all black was a different kind of eccentric than what she was used to.

Edna and Zaveid had their opinions as well, but they weren’t so critical. For Edna, she was astounded that there was another person that was crazy about ruins and the Ancient Tongue just like Sorey. She had hoped that the stupidity that he often indulged himself in was limited to only him and Mikleo, and she was upset to find out that she was wrong. Zaveid, on the other hand, was intrigued by Oyun. Since he and Lailah were the oldest, they had encountered their fair share of people, and no one was the same as their guide. He was full of hunches when it came to giving Sorey Siegfried and helping him out when Dezel had sacrificed himself to save Rose, and he had a hunch that he might be of some use. The only difference between what he thought and what Lailah thought, which was that Oyun seemed like a kind soul at least superficially, was that there had to be an ulterior motive. There was always one with people that were expecting to run into the Shepherd.

“Oyun, this tunnel goes a long way,” Sorey sighed. “Where is your town?”

“Just at the end of it,” Oyun replied. “Those figures that you were fighting—the shadows—they are actually something like guardian seraphim for my town. They don’t really know their own attacks, but they can learn their counterparts’ moves to a T. But I do apologize that they attacked you. It has been a few years since they’ve been able to engage anything.”

“Your place is pretty well hidden,” Mikleo observed. “Why would you need guardians?”

Sorey scolded Mikleo. He told him that it was the same reason that Zenrus had enacted a blessing over his domain. They were trying to hide from hellions.

“Precisely so, Lord Shepherd,” Oyun agreed.

Sorey blushed. “You don’t have to keep calling me that. I should actually call you Scholar Oyun or something since you’ll be teaching me!”

The two got into a playful banter about titles, and it irked Mikleo. He held his tongue, though, because for once the one he cared about found someone who could help him further his knowledge. He simply vowed to himself that he would remain at his side to make sure that this mysterious Oyun didn’t harm him.


	2. Nochipoli

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oyun shows off Nochipoli before bring Sorey's group to their temporary residence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dream figures: Nochipoli, the fourth floor storeroom (with the feeling that a "kind employee" had made it into a makeshift bachelor pad), the "Christmas" tree, the shape of the hotel (which is oddly like the hotel I stayed in for my conference)
> 
> Everything else is conscious imagination.

The group of seven finally reached the end of the tunnel that brought them to a quaint town that looked like an Eastern European village. The houses were small and made of brick with windowsill plants. A thin sheet of snow covered the roofs, but the sidewalks and pathways had been cleared of it. In the center of the circle that the houses made was a large cone-shaped tree decorated with red and gold ornaments. A garland of cotton spiraled down it. The tree was reminiscent of a Christmas tree, but the sheer height and the shape made it seem more like it was made out of something like glittery green scrapbooking paper than pine needles.

“Welcome to my humble town of Nochipoli!” Oyun finally announced. “Now, it may seem like this town is dark and depressing, but I assure you that it’s quite a cheerful place. We’re in the process of celebrating a gift-exchanging holiday!”

“So something like Christmas?” Rose asked him. “Why not just call it that?”

“My dear, here we have no such religious tradition. What we do in this town remains separate from the rest of the world. In a matter of days, all of the townspeople will gather at the Grand Ballroom south of the town for the masquerade.” He turned to Sorey, taking up his hands with pleading eyes. “Lord Shepherd, please, it would behoove you to at least observe this tradition. It only happens once every fifty years, and it’s my turn to host it. Please, as my esteemed guest, would you so kindly attend?”

The flowery speech made Edna and Mikleo sick to their stomachs, but they weren’t surprised when Sorey accepted the invitation. It couldn’t be helped since he had never been to a masquerade, so his natural instinct was to learn what that would be like.

Elated, Oyun clapped his hands together while gushing about how he had the perfect outfit for him and a collection of masks to choose from. He ushered him down one of the paths to a large building that didn’t match the houses of the town.

This building towered over the houses like a castle, but it was shaped like a half-hexagon so that the right and left wings of the building had a partial view of the other side. Lailah and Zaveid sensed a presence within the building, but they weren’t sure what it was. In fact, they had been sensing a number of presences throughout the town. They were less than human but more than hellion. It was more curious that Sorey was oblivious to them.

Zaveid pulled Rose to the side, but before he could ask her what she was feeling, Oyun grabbed everyone’s attention. He looked right at Sorey as he spoke:

“I am so very humbled, Lord Shepherd, that you have graced our somber little town with your presence. Now that we are not among the public eye, I can tell you the true state of affairs.”

He took a step forward to Sorey.

“Nochipoli is hidden away within the shadow stone near Hyland because my people are trapped in the war between that kingdom and the empire of Rolance. We never asked for this, yet it happened. We thought that by hiding from either side we would be able to survive. The darkness that you see that has befallen the town is from the malevolence. It is always dusk, Lord Shepherd. We neither see the morning light nor feel the afternoon sun. We have been cursed to only experience cloudy, dusk-tinted skies.”

Rose scrutinized his statements, but it was ultimately Sorey’s decision about what to do.

“Please, Lord Shepherd, will you help us?”

Mikleo approached the two of them. A heartbreaking speech like that seemed uncharacteristic for someone that was so bubbly before, but he had to consider that as a mayor, Oyun had the responsibility of keeping the morale of his town up. He conceded that perhaps it was a façade in case any of his people were to see him, but even when they were with the shadows, he seemed much too free with his mannerisms.

“The Shepherd’s power isn’t something that Sorey just lends out to people,” he told him. He remembered how Hyland and Rolance yearned for his power, how Heldalf wanted to corrupt him and bring him to his side.

The other part of it was that he was so used to people treat his dearest Sorey like a monster that it was hard to believe that there was really someone that was actually happy to see him. Then again, Oyun was well-versed in the lore that was contained within the pages of the Celestial Record. He showed no fear around him.

“Mikleo, come on,” Sorey argued with him. “They need help. Everyone is affected negatively by this war. It’s the Shepherd’s duty to help those in need.”

“I thought it was your duty to promote coexistence between humans and seraphim.”

“Boys, you’re both right, but Sorey must decide what to do,” Lailah interrupted before the water seraph became too frustrated with him. “Mikleo, I understand that you want to protect Sorey, but if he thinks what he’s doing is right, then that’s his decision.”

Edna disagreed with her. She had the same feeling as Mikleo albeit she didn’t like the sudden desperation that Oyun demonstrated.

“Don’t worry, Mayor Oyun, we’ll help you,” Sorey decided.

Again Oyun clapped his hands in delight. He was overwhelmed with happiness to hear the good news, and as he entered the building that would serve as their residence while they were in Nochipoli, he promised that he would make sure they had a grand time in his town.

He excused himself for a moment, and while he was gone, Sorey’s team of seraphim and Rose examined the building. It looked to be an inn, but it was fancier than they expected from the looks of the town. Inside, the floor was tiled with marble and the innkeepers were a pair of twin with black bob haircuts. Their bangs hung over their eyes, and they were as pale as Mikleo.

Zaveid glanced at them, and while they were only slightly taller than Edna, he was interested in getting to know them. Approaching the front desk, he flashed a grin at them.

“Well, well, we haven’t seen anyone since we got here, but I must say, that you two are probably the most beautiful things I’ve encountered thus far,” he flirted.

“Actually, sir,” the left one said.

“We are the same person,” the right one continued.

“Joined at the hip, as they say,” they finished together.

“E-Excuse me?”

“Everybody, I’m back!” Oyun sang from the stairs. “If all of you would kindly follow me to my penthouse, I have a selection of clothes for all of you to try on for the masquerade! Once we have the clothing picked out, we can rest up and look at the masks tomorrow. I’ve pulled all my best threads for you, Lord Shepherd, so I hope you like them!”

Rose and Lailah exchanged looks. It was strange that not too long after disclosing the position of his town, Oyun was still as chipper as ever and enthralled with the idea of the masquerade.

“Actually, Mayor Oyun,” Sorey sheepishly asked. “Is it possible we can put the clothing off for tomorrow?”

Oyun froze in place, an eerie silence falling over him. Sorey explained that the fights with the shadows were catching up to him and the seraphim. He would rather rest then begin looking over the outfits with a fresh mind in the morning. Unsure of what to do, Oyun reluctantly agreed to let them go to bed. He reminded them about the absence of a morning, adding that if they fell asleep, they wouldn’t wake up because there was no light.

The mayor led them to the seventh floor, which was where—according to him—all his esteemed guests were to stay. The seventh floor was decorated like the first floor. The floor was tiled with marble, and the walls were colored black with metal castings of antique Venetian masks decorating them. Some of them were made with wire that looked similar to lace. Others were the common half face design. Some had cat ears or rabbit ears. Others had the jester’s curls and frills. Most of them had metal replicas of the feathers and roses that adorned them.

There was one particular mask that caught Sorey’s attention. It was a mixture of a full-face mask and the half-face mask. The edges that covered the cheeks tapered so that there was a cut out for just the nose and mouth. The design was probably inspired because ball-goers had problems eating and drinking with their masks. He kept the style in mind so that when Oyun showed them his collection of masks, he knew which one he wanted.

Oyun opened the door at the very end of the hall that led into a suite-style room. It was unlike anything they had ever seen, and the man clad in black eagerly awaited to hear Sorey’s opinion about it.

“This room is amazing!” Sorey told him. “There’s so much space! It can easily accommodate all six of us!”

“All six of you?” Oyun repeated worrisomely.

“Did you think we were going to get separate rooms?” Edna asked him with a bit of a bite.

“Well, yes, I did. This room is for esteemed guests, and in this case, my esteemed guest is the Shepherd.”

Sorey glanced at him. He was somewhat perturbed that he wanted to separate him from his friends, but he gave him the benefit of the doubt. He was sure that he had a room that was only slightly less comfortable for the others.

“Actually, if the Shepherd’s acquaintances could follow me to the fourth floor for your room…” Oyun urged. Sorey told them to listen to Oyun, but Mikleo lagged behind.

The water seraph gripped his Shepherd’s arms, his amethyst eyes searching his emerald ones. “This isn’t like you, Sorey,” he warned him. “You’re just blindly listening to him. Don’t you think it’s fishy he wants to keep Lailah and me and the others away from you?”

Sorey cupped his cheeks, pinching them into a smile. “We’re guests, so we’re obligated to do as he pleases. Not to mention he’s also the mayor of this town.”

“So? Chancellor Bartlow runs part of Hyland’s government, but you had no problem telling him off when he tried to recruit you to fight against Rolance.”

“That’s different; Chancellor Bartlow is…he’s an awful man. But Oyun is different. He’s trying to help his people.”

Oyun accosted Mikleo. He rested a hand on Sorey’s shoulder as if to ease his worries about separating him from the seraphim. When he looked at Mikleo, there was a glimmer of contempt for him in his black eyes. There was a strange loathing in their depths that made the water seraph’s heart drop.

“Water Seraph, I implore you to follow me to your room,” he said, but there was a harshness that either Sorey didn’t notice or didn’t care to notice. “You may see your master in the ‘morning’, but please allow him to get his rest.”

Mikleo hoped that Sorey would allow him to stay a little longer, but the brunet bade him goodnight. Oyun roughly took his wrist and dragged him to the fourth floor. There, he was pushed into a room that looked like a storeroom for old furniture. A multitude of couch cushions was arranged into a circle on a round table. Other cushions were neatly leaned around the legs to give the impression it was a large ottoman or possibly even a kotatsu. Boxes were stacked around to look like sophisticated statues, and wooden benches surrounded the ottoman.

Lailah and Edna sat on one of the benches while Rose leaned against the wall behind them. Zaveid had been checking the furniture out since he had nothing better to do and wasn’t sure when Oyun would randomly pop in to talk or make sure they were all still there.

“Well, I hope you all enjoy your room. I know it isn’t much, but I tried to make it look a little more stylish. Now, if you need anything simply walk down the hall,” Oyun informed them. Then he left. The door clicked shut behind him.

Everyone waited until they were sure that Oyun had gone a ways down the hall; Lailah, Edna, and Zaveid focused on sensing him. When the coast was clear, their discussion started.

“Something’s definitely off about that guy,” Zaveid said.

“I’ll say! He’s got a really creepy stalker fascination with Sorey,” Rose added. “He was practically gushing over him while still being calm. Anything he said was directed at Sorey. He’s got that…I don’t know, charming killer feel to him.”

“It’s probably because he’s the Shepherd,” Edna countered. She wasn’t playing devil’s advocate, but there were people out there that would take advantage of his power and probably knew that pretending to be nice and needy would get them that power. “I’m more concerned about the emotional masquerade he seems to be putting on.”

“As a mayor, he has to be like that,” Lailah said. “He isn’t generating malevolence as far as I can tell.”

“He’s definitely up to something, and Sorey is playing right into his hand. We have to do something before something bad happens,” Mikleo suggested urgently. He clenched his fists.

“Your overprotective-boyfriend side is coming out again, Meebo,” Edna teased. The water seraph glared at her. “You’re not wrong, but we can’t go in for an attack when we’ve just met him.”

“Edna’s right about that,” Zaveid agreed. “If we attack him on a poorly supported pretense, Sorey could get into a lot of trouble.”

The shirtless wind seraph reflected on his brief conversation with the twins at the front desk. They were joined at the hip. He wasn’t one to take things literally, but he had a feeling that they were conjoined twins. Conjoined twins were, after all, a rare oddity; their unnerving response to his attempt at flirting made him wonder about the other citizens of the town. They also were the only people they had met besides Oyun, and without proper reconnaissance, jumping to the conclusion that the mysterious man clad in black was inherently evil was dangerous.

Meanwhile, Sorey sat on his lush bed. The room was ivory with black and gold accents—a change in color scheme from the holiday bleakness of Nochipoli. There were portraits of men and women wearing the masks all around in his room. He admired the attire as he daydreamed about the outfit and mask he would pick for himself.

“I should pick one out for Mikleo, too, to make up for this,” he sighed. He felt sorry for blanking him out. “But he has a better eye for clothing than I do.”

He found a catalogue of masks to peruse. Carrying it under his arm, he went into the bathroom. Even if his friends found Oyun to be strange, he wanted to be kind and make himself comfortable. He drew himself a bath, and while soaking in the gardenia-scented water—which was fascinating to him—he flipped through the book of masks for all his friends. He spotted a light blue butterfly-shaped mask for Mikleo, which he fell immediately in love with. Sorey was sure that he’d love it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's still kind of weak, but I'm thinking of the later chapters. Also, I've been shotgunning American Horror Story, so this might actually turn a little into Asylum...? Or Coven...? Or Hotel...?


	3. Clothes Fit for a Shepherd

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mikleo can't help but feel that Oyun is plotting something. He listens in on his conversation with Sorey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can already feel it. This story is going to be pretty dark...so I'll have to up the rating...and add in an archive warning. But that gives me more freedom to write (but damn, I have a lot of explicit stories...) because having gotten to Chapter 12 in FF15 and finishing AHS Asylum, I got some ideas. Oops.
> 
> Dream figures: Old woman in the opposite wing's fourth floor window

Mikleo couldn’t sleep that evening knowing that he wasn’t allowed to be with Sorey. It was an unshakeable feeling that they were falling deeper and deeper into something that was better left forgotten. Oyun seemed like he was the one who had lived with him forever, and Mikleo was the intruder of their relationship.

Rose snored away next to Lailah, who was watching over her in thought. When she glanced at Edna and Zaveid, she found that they were at least trying to pretend to be asleep in case Oyun or the girls at the front desk came to check on them. Then she looked at Mikleo.

“You’re really worried, aren’t you,” Lailah softly said. The light from outside cast a hazy light over her face.

“I am. I don’t trust Oyun with Sorey,” he responded. He sat near the sealed window, staring at the grey moon that hung low on the horizon. He had to wonder if Lailah would stop him if he tried to break into Sorey’s room, but given that she knew he loved him and that he was willing to put himself in danger for him, she probably wouldn’t. He knew he’d fight back against the feeling to stay where he was. His body would move on its own. “Lailah, what should I do?” He clutched at his heart. He was so used to feeling the malevolence hammering at his ribs that the absence of it rattled him to his core. “Am I just being paranoid or overprotective?”

“Not at all. You care for him, so it’s natural that you’re so concerned. Perhaps you can sneak to his room or listen through the door to make sure he’s okay.”

“If Oyun or those girls aren’t patrolling, that is. Alright, I’m going to his room. If I’m not back by morn—there is no morning. If I’m not back within an hour, make some excuse to investigate the building.”

Mikleo snuck out into the hallway as quietly as he could. He tried to remember where the stairwell was to head back up to the seventh floor. When he found them, he was in perfect view of the other wing of the hotel. It gave him a vantage point to spot if there was anyone coming to check on the storeroom, and thankfully there wasn’t. In fact, the opposite wing’s rooms were filled with rectangular metal file cabinets, and in front of two of them was a small, unmoving, older looking woman that was staring out across the tops of the houses. Mikleo watched her both confused and too frightened to move. The woman didn’t look at him; she just kept staring out of the window. Then, suddenly, she disappeared.

Mikleo climbed the stairs as he tried to understand what he had just witnessed. The woman—for her to suddenly vanish in thin air, he figured her to be a phantom. The building was a holding cell for oddities. The front desk’s attendants and now this woman? Things were getting weirder, and more than ever he wanted to talk to Sorey. Talking to him would calm him. Talking to him would remind him that Sorey was still there and he could take comfort in him and he could feel a little safer despite being in Oyun’s world.

The climb to the seventh floor was somewhat difficult. The flights were longer than the average one, and it was a good distance from one floor to the next. By the time he reached the landing to the seventh floor, his thighs were on fire and his lungs were struggling to work in time with his huffs.

“Why would climbing up stairs take that much out of me?” he coughed. He held his head which was pounding dully from the effort exerted to climb.

He stepped cautiously down the hall to the end where Sorey’s room was located. A building as tall as that one had to have many visitors, especially with the masquerade coming in a few days. One room he passed smelled of alcohol and a sweet smoke. Another room across the hall and down a couple doors boomed with shrieks and raucous laughter. Mikleo knew what went on behind these doors, and he was still disturbed that no malevolence came from them. They had to leave, he thought, because something evil was taking place.

Mikleo reached Sorey’s door, the smells and sounds dizzying him to no end. He placed his hand on the extravagant door handle but froze. Voices that didn’t belong to Sorey were coming from inside. He carefully put his ear against the door.

Oyun was inside with the twins from the front desk and Sorey. He was holding a black cigarette that smelled vaguely of lavender as it burned between his fingers. He had brought a bottle of sweet red wine and two rather large goblets. The twins were holding stacks and stacks of all sorts of outfits that he had chosen for the Shepherd.

“Do tell me, Lord Shepherd, which one is your favorite outfit?” the mayor happily asked before dragging on the sweet-smelling cigarette. He got up from his side on the bed. Pulling the first outfit he displayed it. “How about this one?”

It was a suit with a long, decorated coat. There was far too much black in the entire outfit for Sorey’s fancy, and he didn’t think the plumed hat would match the mask he had in mind. Sorey hesitantly shook his head.

The next outfit was a caped black outfit with gold trimmings and accents, a blue rose corsage was pinned to the left lapel among a myriad of thin cords. The third outfit was something a mixture of the two—it was black with a strange royal blue sheen. In addition to gold trimmings and accents, it had a few glaringly white belts to go around the wrists and hips. It had a red rose corsage that particularly struck Oyun’s fancy.

“Oyun, can I make a suggestion? Can I use parts from each outfit?” Sorey questioned.

“Well, Lord Shepherd, each outfit has a specific composition. Not to insult your eye for fashion in this case, but I’d have to advise against it.”

Mikleo continued to listen from behind the door somewhat offended.

“Please, I just want to see what it would look like,” Sorey pleaded.

He took the plumed hat after reevaluating how it would look with the mask. It dipped over his eye in an alluring way that made him giddy. He thought about how Mikleo would react to it. Would he look like a dashing prince? Next he took pants and the boots that came with the third outfit. Finally he put on the shirt from the second outfit.

“Lord Shepherd, it really looks hideous.”

“I’m sorry; you may not like it, but Mikleo will…maybe. He won’t outwardly say it, but he’ll think it looks nice.”

Oyun bit the filter of his cigarette. He motioned to the twins to set the clothes down and pour the wine. As they did as they were told, he called Sorey to sit with him. He asked him, “Why are you so concerned what the water seraph thinks? He’s just a nasty little creature—after all, he tried to stay in here when it’s _your_ room.”

Sorey tried his best not to take offense to what Oyun had just said. He simply told him that Mikleo had been at his side since he was born. He wasn’t going to shun him just because someone else didn’t think they should be together in a bedroom.

“What exactly is your relationship with him? You’re acting as if he’s your life partner.” Oyun was getting frustrated, and he couldn’t hide it this time.

“He is. We’re partners in all things, and I will always be by his side just like he’s at mine.” Sorey started to sound alittle defensive, yet Oyun didn’t seem to care.

Mikleo let a small smile curl on his lips. It warmed him to know that his Sorey was still there even though he had been treating him otherwise since their arrival. He was about to leave when he heard a disgruntled grumble.

“How can you be so sure that he’ll always be with you?” Oyun suddenly asked. “Seraphim are nothing more than vagabonds that toy with the human soul. You can pray and pray all you like, but they never help. You could be dying from starvation or burning alive, and they won’t help!”

Sorey kept his mouth shut. He didn’t see the point in arguing that seraphim were not like that, especially when Oyun so vehemently believed so. This decision peeved Mikleo, whom was tempted to barge in and prove him wrong. He had to think about Sorey’s position, but he couldn’t stand listening to someone lower than a seraph professing such lies.

“Sorey, why won’t you fight back?” he whispered. “If you really think this much of me, shouldn’t you be defending me when I can’t do it myself?”

“Lord Shepherd, what will it take to change your mind about that water seraph?”

“What do you mean?”

“I intend to show that seraphim are worthless, liars wearing masks. Unless this is something more…” Oyun drained his goblet of wine. “And if it is something more than a profound belief, I intend to outshine it with proof that seraphim are just the opposite of what they claim to be.”

Sorey didn’t understand what the frustrated mayor meant. The twins didn’t understand what he meant. Mikleo couldn’t begin to understand what it was he meant because after the challenge, he finally barged into the room.

“Mikleo?” Sorey said surprised.

“You sneaky bastard, how dare you listen in on a private conversation concerning your master! A dog would know better!” Oyun growled at him.

Mikleo gritted his teeth and clenched his fists in frustration. In a voice that Sorey had never heard—absolutely livid and dripping with seething rage—he yelled at him:

“How dare I listen in? How dare you slander the name of the seraphim and then challenge them in front of the only human with the capacity to communicate and love them!”

Sorey quickly walked to him. He tried to push him out of the room. “Back off, Mikleo,” he warned him.

“I will not! Sorey, how can you just take him saying all these awful things? You’re the Shepherd, you could at least fight against his word! Tell him, seraphim are not the way he’s making them out to be! Seraphim want to live in peace just like humans! We don’t relish human suffering!”

“This is not the time or the place to be getting caught up in the personal beliefs of a diplomat. Now, just leave.”

“Leave? What the hell is wrong with you? You’ve been acting strange since we got here! And you won’t even support me? What if it were Lailah, who has been trying her damnedest to end the Age of Chaos? Or Edna, who has been trying to find a way to save her brother? Or Dezel, who gave his life for Rose? Or Zaveid, who’s lost so many of his friends already?!”

“Mikleo, if you don’t leave, I’ll be forced to—”

Oyun watched from behind, senselessly shouting profanities and insults at Mikleo, egging him on to fight him there and now. Mikleo summoned his staff, and as soon as he did, Sorey bit his lip. He raised the hand that displayed the Shepherd’s glove high into the air. In one swift motion, he slapped him across the face so hard that the water seraph faltered to the side, his eyes trying to refocus on the feet before him. His heart had stopped for a brief moment when he realized that Sorey had hit him and quite hard.

“S-Sorey…” his voice squeaked. “H-How could you…?”

“I’m sorry, Mikleo, but you made me do it! Please, just go back to your room! You weren’t even supposed to be here!”

Oyun smirked at the water seraph and spit in his direction. He mocked him, jeered at him, showed off that not even the Shepherd was willing to side with him and his childishness. Sorey flashed a look back at him that demanded he silenced himself. When he turned back to Mikleo, he had to will himself not to coddle him. It hurt to see the water seraph recoil from him when he tried to soften the punishment by reaching out to him.

“Excuse me,” Lailah’s voice sounded from the doorway. “M-Mikleo, are you okay?”

Sorey met her jade eyes with hesitation. She realized what had happened—the developing bruise on Mikleo’s porcelain cheek, Mikleo’s trembling appearance, Oyun’s annoyed stance, Sorey’s guilty expression. She pulled the water seraph towards the door as gently as she could but still with urgency. She wasn’t going to say anything, not in front of the Shepherd.

“Lailah,” Sorey uttered after she turned to leave with her Sub-Lord. “You are the Prime Lord. It is your duty to keep your subordinates in check. Please, do not allow Mikleo to come again without permission from Oyun or myself.”

Lailah was silent.

The brunet turned to the mayor, who suddenly looked like a feeble and crippled puppy. “Oyun, please don’t speak that way about my friends. I can understand if you feel betrayed by them, but Mikleo and the others that have journeyed with me have done nothing against you. Don’t ever antagonize him like that again. Don’t ever make me have to use force with him.”

“He wasn’t supposed to have been here. If you expect me to comply with your rules, then comply with mine. Your seraphim are not to leave their room unless we all have business outside of the hotel together.”

***

Rose spread a cooling ointment on Mikleo’s cheek that would help with the healing process. He had tried to heal it with his magical power, but each ticking second on the old clock in their makeshift suite sapped his strength. As she tended to the bruise, she thought about how to express her condolences to him.

“I’m sure Sorey didn’t mean to hit you that hard,” she finally said.

“He used his left hand, but it was as much force as he could muster,” Mikleo replied. He was subdued, his voice just more than breathy words laden with pity. “He’s gotten physical with me before, but…that was different. It felt like he’d been waiting to do that…”

“Well, to be fair, you shouldn’t have let your presence be known,” Edna told him. “Still, for Sorey to have done that in front of that sleazy mayor, I’d guess it’s some other force at work. After all, we’ve all noticed that he’s acting strangely. You even mentioned it to him, and he didn’t budge.”

“It was after I said he’s been acting weird that he hit me.”

“But he was talking to Oyun, so I wouldn’t doubt that jerk probably said something to make him subconsciously lash out.”

She closed the tub of ointment then turned him over to Lailah, who wanted to try cheering him up. The bubbly fire seraph took up his hands.

“Don’t take it personally,” she said. “He’s more than likely trying to keep both parties happy!” She became more determined. “And if Oyun really is trying to do something against all of us, if Sorey does turn his back on us because of him, we can fight against him.”

“Don’t jump to conclusions yet,” Zaveid cautioned. “It’s true that this Oyun guy is trying to stir up trouble between us and Sorey, but from the looks of things, he can easily manipulate the situation. You guys be on your toes. Now, what’s the plan?”

Now that Sorey had chosen his clothes for the masquerade, they were certain that he would have to pick a mask in due time. In a matter of hours, they were going to pick their outfits for the ball and their masks. Ideally, they wanted to all talk to Sorey, but given how Oyun had treated Mikleo, things were going to be exceptionally difficult. He was attacking the closest one to the Shepherd’s heart from the start, and if Sorey had struck him, who was to say he wouldn’t threaten the others? Rose volunteered to fight against him if she had to in order to protect them, but Lailah obviously didn’t want it to come to that. There was no plan that they could conceive before the mask selection that would distance Sorey and Oyun, but if they didn’t come up with something to get in the way, Oyun and Sorey would become tighter friends.

The other question was…why was even the idea of the seraphim so disgusting to Oyun? Mikleo lay on one of the wooden benches. He didn’t want to begin trying to answer the question. The strike had hurt him far deeper; he wanted to forget what Sorey had done.

Rose and Lailah stood closer to the window, and they watched as Mikleo tried to sleep. They watched Zaveid try to comfort him, and he asked Edna to join the other girls.

“Serious Mode, huh? I never thought you’d be the caring father figure type,” she truthfully but coldly told him.

“With his only rock being the reason for all this, he needs someone to lean on until he can sleep it off. Sorey’s probably feeling like shit, too.”

“They’re had a fight like this once, but this is more serious,” Lailah admitted. When Edna had nothing more to say and when Zaveid was busy trying to give some comfort to the water seraph, all three of the girls started devising the first part of their plan to leave Nochipoli.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whenever I finish my Tumblr, I'll eventually add the sketch of Sorey's outfit.
> 
> (Mikleo, I'm so sorry that I torture you all the time. I'm sorry you got slapped, my poor water baby...)


	4. Of Monsters and Women

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oyun convinces Mikleo and Sorey to make up even though it leaves him angry. Edna, Lailah, Rose, and Zaveid begin their recon mission around the hotel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slightly longer chapter as I have a little more time now. The old men and the women in the this world look like the NPCs in Alice Madness Returns to me... Also used some of my smarts from my psychology courses!

When Rose had learned that Sorey had slapped Mikleo in front of Oyun, she was less than happy to see him a few hours later. She couldn’t fathom any reason for him to strike him other than that Oyun had some role in it. Even Edna was suspicious about what had happened. Despite her cold-as-stone demeanor, she was concerned for them. Still, her cynicism slowly got the better of her, and she began on a train of thought of why the Shepherd would think to do something so uncharacteristically mean. Of course, Zaveid had been repeating not to jump to conclusions, but how could she not when something truly dastardly was afoot, something evil was keeping them stuck among the shadows?

Lailah was the only one who wasn’t thinking about what had happened, or rather, she didn’t want to. She had seen the aftermath of the altercation between the two, and she thought that by looking in his eyes with confused innocence, Sorey would generate malevolence. If he generated malevolence, then all of them would be in danger. But there was something else that was strange. She couldn’t feel the same malevolence she feared swirling there. On her way to find Mikleo, she had passed by all the same rooms he did. She had seen the listless ghost of the old woman in the opposite wing. Everything that she heard through the doors was surely of sinful things, but there was no malevolence seeping from any of it.

Zaveid had taken it upon himself to comfort Mikleo when possible, but after the slap, he was inconsolable in his silence. He offered his shoulder to cry on, but the water seraph simply sat against the wall with his knees to his chest. He didn’t look as sad as dumbfounded by Sorey’s reaction to the argument between him and the mayor.

“It’s really affecting him, isn’t it,” Rose murmured so that only Lailah and Edna could hear after a while of deafening silence.

“Meebo isn’t even crying, or he is and just won’t admit it,” Edna added. “Either way, we need to have a talk with our ‘Lord Shepherd’. He has to explain himself.”

“Agreed, but with Oyun following him like a guard dog, that’ll be difficult,” Zaveid said, joining the conversation after having no luck in getting Mikleo to talk with him.

“Perhaps we can split them up?” Lailah asked. “Rose and I can distract Oyun while you and Edna try talking to him.”

“Do you think he’ll listen to us? He usually listens to Mikleo, and look what happened,” Edna doubted.

“It can’t hurt to try. We need to snip this in the bud while we still can,” Rose said resolutely.

The three seraphim conceded. If things were allowed to fester, their pacts with Sorey would be reduced to nothing but insignificant formalities that could easily be cut should he wish to do so; however, they were still confined to that room. They could leave, but at the expense of their safety. And if they left Mikleo alone without anyone to make sure Oyun wasn’t on the move himself, he would most likely be in danger.

“We won’t learn anything by hiding here,” Edna decided. “Rose, let’s go get some ice for Mikleo. He’s too depressed to make his own. Zaveid, Lailah, you can deal with him.”

Somewhat mystified by the sudden thoughtful suggestion, Rose followed the earth seraph out of the room and into the hall. It had to have been the equivalent of day hours because the raucous laughter and smells of alcohol and smoke had disappeared. Old men and middle aged women in fancy black outfits were walking about generally minding their own business. Well, the women weren’t too concerned about the two girls. The old men, on the other hand, flashed lecherous sneers at them, prompting them to tighten the grips on their weapons as they made their way to the elevators. As they boarded one, six old men filed in after them. They pushed them up against the walls with their obese bodies that reeked of month-old musk. Rose’s eyes watered, but Edna was prepared to withstand the smell until they reached the seventh floor.

“Wait, I thought we were going for ice for Mikleo,” Rose whispered.

“We will, eventually,” Edna murmured back. “First, we should pay a visit to our Lord Shepherd and have him explain himself. It’s too suspicious to move as a group, so we’re going to go by ourselves.”

Rose thought it was too soon to confront Sorey about what he did, but Edna thought otherwise. Punishment was only effective if it was swift, severe, and certain. This was known as the deterrence theory, and while they had already missed their window for swiftness, the little earth seraph promised to be as severe and certain about it as possible.

“I didn’t think you would do something like this for Mikleo. What’s up?”

“I’m not doing it for him. If we don’t reprimand Sorey now, there is a chance this could happen to any of us. None of us saw what had really happened, but I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt that he held back against him. The rest of us might not be so lucky.”

They arrived at Sorey’s door where Oyun was sulking. He glared at them with his intense black eyes, but he didn’t say anything. Likewise, Rose and Edna ignored him. They approached the door with some apprehension that he would prohibit them from going inside. When they were close enough, they heard weeps and sniffles echoing out of the room.

“Is Sorey crying?” Rose thought aloud.

“He wants to be alone to wallow in his regret,” Oyun said after a brief pause. “Leave the Lord Shepherd alone.”

Edna tilted her head back as she stared uninterested at the mayor of Nochipoli yet there was a tinge of crimson bloodlust in her sky-blue eyes. Oyun wasn’t her master. Oyun didn’t have the authority to tell her to leave her master alone. Oyun was no one to her.

She knocked on Sorey’s door, and after a few moments of silence and the mumblings of someone who had not been expecting anyone to visit, the lock clicked. Sorey opened the door only slightly, as if hoping to see Mikleo. If it had been him, he would have thrown his arms around his neck, pleading for forgiveness while showering him with remorseful kisses. Seeing Edna and Rose, however, filled him with fear. These two were the more outspoken, silver-sharp-tongued people he knew, and their appearance at his threshold could only mean that he was in deep trouble.

“E-Edna…Rose…” Sorey whimpered. His emerald eyes were swollen and red from hours upon hours of sobbing into his pillow. “If you two are here, that can only mean that Mikleo is really mad at me.”

Oyun gritted his teeth at the sound of Sorey talking them and not him. Diplomats and Shepherds had to work together, so why couldn’t he trust him? Rose and Edna entered the room, leaving him to stew in his anger.

Sorey sat on the edge of his bed while Rose took a seat in one of the chairs near the door. Edna stood in front of the Shepherd spinning her umbrella on her shoulder waiting for him to start explaining himself. What she and Rose got instead was an onslaught of blubbering self-accusations and reprimands so harsh that they weren’t sure if he needed to be consoled or not.

“Mikleo hates me,” he bawled. “I didn’t want to hit him, but he was fighting with Oyun. I shouldn’t have hit him because now he doesn’t want to see me. If only I had been more careful, we wouldn’t be upset with each other.”

“Haven’t you guys ever fought?” Rose asked puzzledly, unsure of how to address the situation.

“We have, but…I’ve never hit him,” Sorey sniffled. He started crying again. “I’ve never been this broken up about it either. He looked so hurt, and—and—and I made him look like that. How can I face him?”

Edna closed her umbrella. She lightly tapped Sorey on the head then used the tip to push his chin up as she told him, “You get out of this ugly room and talk to him yourself. Don’t act like you’re the victim, either, with all this stupid crying. You’re the Shepherd—act like it.”

“Jeez, Edna, no need to be that harsh,” Rose whispered.

“It’s called giving a taste of one’s own medicine. Sorey hit Mikleo, wants Mikleo to come back to him to talk, and is sitting here crying for himself. The Sorey I know wouldn’t be twiddling his thumbs like this.”

Sorey, moved by Edna’s words, dried his tears. He decided that she was right. He had done something wrong, and only he could make it right. Rose was somewhat surprised that her berating and borderline abuse had pushed him off the bed. The brunet reached for the door knob just as the door swung open to reveal Oyun holding Mikleo tightly by his shoulder and Zaveid and Lailah running down the hall after them.

“What’s going on?” Rose asked.

“Oyun came and just pulled Mikleo right out of the room!” Zaveid accused.

“I did no such thing,” Oyun coolly rebutted. “I am simply filling the mediator role by assisting Mikleo to come and talk to his master. Yes, I could see that neither one would be willing to confront the other without some sort of push. Now, dearest Water Seraph, go talk to your master.”

Oyun’s long, thin fingers looked like they were on Mikleo’s shoulders from Sorey’s perspective, but they were gripping his neck just under the wisps of his hair. The spot where he had been slapped had lightened a little, but the redness still tugged at Sorey’s heart. Edna and Rose watched cautiously. Mikleo was tense and unsure of whether or not Sorey wanted to see him, but when the latter scooped him up in his arms, he relaxed. Oyun, on the other hand, once again had to conceal his rage for the sake of whatever nefarious plan he was making.

“Mikleo, I’m so sorry for slapping you like that,” Sorey apologized into his neck. He was aching to kiss him, but such intimate things were better left out of the public eye. “Can you ever forgive me?”

The water seraph who was afraid to speak with his loving Shepherd couldn’t help but tear up. He hugged him tightly and buried his face into his shoulder. His throat was tight, but he nodded. It was a touching moment, and while it didn’t play out as Edna and Rose had expected, and while Zaveid and Lailah were happy for Sorey and Mikleo, all of them could sense that Oyun—glaring at them with his black eyes—had nasty contempt for them.

“L-Lord Shepherd, you must be tired from all the stress that this has caused you,” Oyun stammered. “Why don’t you send your seraphim and human servant away and get some rest?”

Lailah was the first to say, “Forgive me, but I believe Sorey will decide what he wants to do on his own.” She was stern, and Oyun naturally felt threatened. Before he could complain to Sorey, she continued, “Everyone, why don’t we give Sorey and Mikleo their privacy?”

“Agreed,” Edna said with a slight smirk at Oyun.

As the seraphim and Rose walked out of the room, the mayor hung back. He invited Mikleo to have dinner with him, and while Sorey was opposed to it since the two didn’t see eye-to-eye, he wanted them to work things out. It would make working with the people of Nochipoli easier.

Meanwhile, Lailah led her group back to the fourth floor, and all of them were put off by Oyun’s sudden intervention. They could no longer keep waiting to see what was going to happen. Oyun was planning something, and if they allowed it to come to fruition, they would lose their Shepherd.

“But how do we tackle this beast?” Rose asked once they were settled in their room. “You saw how he tried to play the good guy, right? It wasn’t just me?”

“We all saw it,” Zaveid grumbled. “He really did just come in here and yank Mikleo from in here. He didn’t look too pleased about it either.”

“On the bright side, Mikleo and Sorey are together for the moment,” Lailah sighed. She looked at each of her friends. “We have to make sure it stays that way until we can leave this place.”

“We need a plan to get out of here first. I vote we talk to Sorey after he and Mikleo smooth things over. If we can get him on board, then Oyun won’t be able to stop him,” Edna said. “In the meantime, we should go ahead and find a route out of this building. Let’s split up.”

Zaveid and Lailah weren’t too fond about splitting up in an unfamiliar place such as that hotel. If they ventured too far, they also risked breaking the pact with Sorey and Rose, which would render them powerless if anyone should attack them. But would it be any different from how they were now? Something had been nagging at Lailah since they had arrived in Nochipoli, like something was missing or at least deficient in them.

“Rose, call on the Armatus,” she ordered the Squire.

“Huh? Okay,” Rose agreed. “ _Fethmus Mioma!_ ”

Nothing happened.

Somewhat worried now, Lailah tried to use one of her seraphic artes, but her incantations didn’t work. No flames blazed even when she mustered up as much power as she could. It was strange because she was able to use her artes when they first entered the obelisk and fought off the shadows. Now they were virtually useless.

“There’s no malevolence here, and we can no longer use our seraphic powers,” she said. “A staunch disbelief in the seraphim could be the cause of this; however, wherever we are, it defies the laws of our world.”

Without their powers, the seraphim were reduced to human equivalents of what they were. Much to their dismay, that meant that should they get into any trouble, they would have to survive on their hand-to-hand combat skills. Regardless of the availability of their powers, Edna and Lailah were the first to move out towards the opposite while Zaveid and Rose scouted the rest of the wing they were staying in.

Zaveid and Rose listened through all the doors for some sort of clue about what Nochipoli was other than some ruined town. Whatever phrases they heard were nothing more than jumbled messes of the ancient tongue.

“ _Eni dua yuoty lu lxi semvoinedi?_ ”

“ _Uz guanmi!_ ”

“ _O tiih e tic semq!_ ”

Neither of them knew the ancient tongue like Sorey, so their recon mission was a bust. It was disheartening—if they couldn’t find out anything, how were they supposed to return home? Rose hoped that Edna and Lailah could uncover something on the other side of the building. Zaveid, however, was curious about checking up on Sorey and Mikleo.

“That’s going to have to wait until we can get something on this place,” Rose huffed.

“Yeah, but aren’t you curious how that all turned out?” Zaveid asked with something like a lecherous tone, but it wasn’t quite as dirty as Rose thought it to be.

***

“This is the room,” Lailah said standing before a metal door. “This room had the apparition of a woman. I’ve been wanting to see what it was about since I went to find Mikleo.”

Edna tried the doorknob only to find that it was locked. She tried using Giant’s Fist, but the door neither budged nor dented. Some other force was holding it closed, probably the ghost even.

“We’re not getting in. Rose should have come down this way and picked the lock,” Edna said.

The two girls thought of a way to open the door until they heard the clicking footsteps of the twins coming down the hall from one of the penthouse suites. If they were caught snooping around, they were sure to be taken in for questioning, and Oyun wouldn’t be too happy about that.

They scurried off towards the elevators and boarded the next one that arrived when the footsteps didn’t stop. They pushed their way into one that held two overweight old men and two skinny middle-aged women with sharp features. Edna remembered the smell from the other six old men. It wasn’t any less intense with only two of them, but there was something else. As usual, there was no malevolence, but a feeling of impending doom was sinking into her stomach. The old men were mumbling to themselves, the women simply looking away from them in disgust. Out of the corners of their eyes, they saw wrinkled hands inching towards them. Lailah held her breath, and Edna gritted her teeth. They didn’t check which floor they were getting off on, but it didn’t matter. As soon as the elevator opened, the old men pulled the seraphim with them to their hotel room. The women hurried behind them, picking up whatever things Lailah and Edna dropped.

Up on the seventh floor, Sorey slept soundly with Mikleo under his arm. The water seraph, however, couldn’t sleep. He was happy that Sorey felt bad for slapping him and that he apologized, but he felt strange about Oyun pulling him to his room instead of allowing Sorey to come down to the fourth floor. And now he wanted to talk to him at the next meal, which was presumably dinner and presumably alone with him. What was he to expect? How did he know that Oyun wouldn’t try some sort of assault against him?

Sorey hugged him tightly in his slumber like a child hugging his teddy bear. Even though he was unconscious, it felt like a reassuring hold. Mikleo had faith in Sorey, and he had the confidence to stand up to Oyun’s transgressions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing in the ancient tongue is really exhausting, but thankfully I assume it has the same grammatical structure as English. I've also got to remember to up the rating on this fic.


	5. First Dinner with the Mayor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Invited to eat with the mayor, Mikleo is forced to question everything he knows about humans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Really short chapter because I wanted it to focus on Mikleo and Oyun. I happen to like flowery speeches and cynicism, and what better way to do it than with dinner?

Mikleo woke about two hours later to find that Sorey was sleeping on his chest. He lightly passed his fingers on his warm cheek, brushing the hairs from his face. He wanted to lay there forever with him, but Oyun had invited him to dinner or whatever food time it was supposed to be in Nochipoli. He shuffled a little in an effort not to disturb his Shepherd, but it was as if he knew that he was going to leave because he hugged him tighter.

“Don’t…leave…” Sorey mumbled in his sleep. He lifted his head just enough to turn it to the other side. “Stay…”

Mikleo patted his head; however, he had to go. A direct invitation from the very man that was challenging him was something to take, and while Mikleo didn’t want to go, it would probably be the only time he would be able to speak with him without flowery theatrics or Sorey getting caught in the middle. He wiggled out from underneath him, tucked a pillow under his arm to give him some sort of solace while he was gone, and snuck out of the suite.

Hotels that were as large and extravagant as this one had numerous halls of various kinds. Oyun hadn’t told him where they were to have dinner, so it took some asking around to find him. Mikleo asked the twins where he usually sat and ate after several guests told him to ask them. He was hesitant because they had been there to see Sorey hit him, and he was somewhat wary that they would take a jab at him with the incident.

On the contrary, they simply brought him to a dining hall with eight-foot-tall windows and the usual black décor where Oyun had been waiting at the end of a long granite table for hours for him. The smashed remains of a small slice of cheesecake sat in front of him, the fork covered in its creamy chunks. When the twins left them alone, Mikleo ventured to sit near him so they could talk, but Oyun ordered him to sit at the opposite end of the table. From there, he had a view of the dusky sky and misty tops of the house in the town.

“Aren’t we supposed to talk? How are we going to do that if I’m half a mile away from you?” Mikleo curtly asked from where he sat. His tone had come out much sharper than he wanted, but anytime he saw this man, he was ready to fight with him.

“Foolish seraph, I’m doing it for your own safety,” Oyun growled at him then changed his entire demeanor to a somewhat lighter one. “Ahem, so glad you could make it, you poor excuse of a guardian. Of the whole troupe, you’re the one I hate the most, but I digress. Are you starting to see things my way?”

Mikleo slightly turned his head in suspicion, but he kept his amethyst eyes on Oyun. “What do you mean, ‘your way’?”

“Do you think you still have the power to change Sorey’s mind about me? After all, was it not an act of compassion to help you two with your disgusting lovers’ spat?”

Taken aback by the declaration that what the mayor had done was a supposed “act of compassion”, Mikleo held his tongue before yelling profanities at him. Oyun was not a hard person to read; he was trying to make him angry. It was too obvious. Mikleo sat back in his chair. He wasn’t going to take the bait now that he knew what he was fishing for.

“I believe in him. Whatever it is you’re trying to do, it’s not going to work. Sorey is a smart guy; he’ll see right through you and your evil scheme whatever it may be.”

Whatever Mikleo had said or however he had said it made Oyun burst into a haughty laughter that put him on guard. The black-clad mayor sipped his tea before pausing for a moment. He was staring at him with shining eyes. It made him uncomfortable.

“What was your name again? Let me tell you something about the hearts of humans,” he started. “Humans are impulsive creatures bound to their existence by mere desire. Humans are the exact demons they try to eradicate from their world, but in the end, they can do naught but surrender themselves to the hearts’ darkest whims. I hate to be the one to tell you, but the Lord Shepherd Sorey is no exception to this rule. Seraph, you seem to be lost in this world of fantasy, which is quite appropriate for someone of your almost mythical nature. Desperately holding onto a so-called ‘love’ that will never propagate into anything because seraphim are imaginary to the human mind. Just like the shadows in my beloved town that have long been chained down in the depths of despair where only hatred and debauchery flourish, seraphim exist in a realm where false security and self-righteousness are law. I shall say it once more, Sorey is just like every other human—a malleable mold just waiting to be kneaded into the true delinquent he is. Tell me, a young man of his age surely had thoughts of pleasuring himself when he was on the cusp of puberty, correct? No doubt he had to relieve those impulses or else he’d have gone mad with lust. And it’s not a secret anymore if you’ve been trying to hide it. I don’t deny that he loves you to an extent that would make people wish to destroy the very fiber of his existence. I would like to venture a guess that, in your world, sexual relations between a human and a seraph, two males at that, probably isn’t viewed with the piousness that comes with the Shepherd’s title.”

“If you’re trying to imply that we’ve had sex, then you’ll be disappointed to hear that we haven’t. Sorey isn’t like that,” Mikleo told him, but his heart was beginning to race.

“Dear child! Don’t pretend like it doesn’t happen. What I find particularly funny is that you have this holier-than-thou attitude about your own desires. I already know what you to do with each other. Before you came and interrupted our evening together picking out his masquerade outfit, Sorey told me. He has told me so many things about you two; that man could learn to withhold information about your relationship. He told me how he fantasizes about you touching him and how he wishes to bury himself inside you. Why, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you two are a pair of apes urged by your implicit sins.”

“If you’ve called me here to belittle and berate me, I will not stand for it.”

Again, Mikleo’s heart was beating as fast as it could. It was true that he and Sorey had talked, but they never did anything outside of kiss or simply be in each other’s presence. It was out of respect for each other even if they both wanted to mix in love. There was also an underlying fear that prohibited them from going through with their lovemaking, and they had resigned themselves to celibacy until they had stopped the Lord of Calamity.

“Calm down, calm down, there’s no need to get so offended. The point is, humans are flippant and finicky, wishy-washy in their ways. Being aware of this, I want to know, why are you so adamant that he won’t leave you to return to your world and stay here with me? Why do you think that he still loves you after he’s told you countless times to leave me alone? Why do you have so much faith in him? Is it because, in reality, you don’t believe in yourself? Do you think you will lose yourself to the darkness crawling in your own heart and soul? Come on, be honest. Admit that that’s what you’ve been thinking since you got here!”

Where were such proclamations and declarations coming from? Mikleo swallowed again and again to keep himself from lashing out of him. He knew Sorey was asleep, but part of him felt that if he gave into the anger, he would suddenly be standing right behind him to see him attack or even kill him. Oyun had to be lying because there was no way that Sorey would tell him anything. He wouldn’t do that!

“Oyun, no matter what you say, I refuse to allow myself to bend to your mind games. Sorey still cares about me, and if I have to put myself in danger to prove it, then so be it,” he said defiantly.

Oyun sucked his teeth after sipping his tea again. He tapped his fingers on the wooden arms of his mahogany chair.

“What do you think about humans?” he asked candidly.

“There are good and bad ones, but I stand with him to ensure everyone is happy.”

“Allow me to rephrase the question. What do you think a monster is?”

“What hellions are. Humans are not monsters, even if some do bad things.”

“Wrong,” Oyun spat. “Monsters are exactly what you fail to see in humans. I should point out this holier-than-thou attitude I addressed before. Have you never been violated? Or cheated or lied to or made to suffer? Has Sorey truly never done that to you?”

“How many times do I have to say it? Sorey isn’t like that!” Mikleo said, his voice rising against his will.

“How many times has he done it? How many times has he slapped you like that or told you to go away or forced you to do things you didn’t want to do?”

Now there was a deep-seated anxiety bubbling in his stomach. Sorey had only slapped him once and that was just hours ago. Sorey had told him that he couldn’t be a Sub-Lord because he didn’t want him getting hurt, but he allowed Lailah to work with him, and it felt like an emotional tryst. But Sorey had never forced him to do anything…or did he?

“No, you’re trying to confuse me!”

“Am I? You simply prove my point. Sorey is a tainted soul, but you refuse to stare into that abyss to see his true nature. I’ve read somewhere in my library that seraphim only give their true names when they wish to confess their love to someone. Did you give your true name to Sorey of you own will, or did he make you? You can tell me, Seraph, if he’s been abusing you because that is the true nature of humans.”

Doubt was leaking into his mind. Could Oyun have a point? Sorey had been acting so differently than before that he began to wonder now if he was nothing but a plaything to him. He wanted to fight the notion back, but every time the devil of a man opened his mouth, he couldn’t help but feel the apprehension that maybe he never knew the real Sorey after growing up with him for seventeen years since birth.

“All humans may not be monsters, but all monsters are certainly human, and Sorey is another monster. Poor pathetic seraph who blindly believed in the fallacy of a pure love, if only you had known from before that your beau is nothing more than a liar and a depraved imp, you wouldn’t have to suffer the uncertainty of what he is.”

Mikleo glared back at him.

“Sorey is not a monster. He is not what you keep saying he is. He was raised among the seraphim, his soul untouched by darkness and his love as pure as spring water. He has never used his position to get what he wanted for sheer entertainment. As the one who knows his soul better than anyone could hope to, I can attest to this. His purity resonates with me, and I will do everything in my power to protect him from the likes of you. If I must, I will prove that he is pure even in this rotting hole in a stone.”

His heart was pounding, but the wave of doubt was seceding. He stood up, hands flat on the table, causing Oyun to tense and bristle. He wasn’t scared of him, though; he wanted him to get riled up. He wanted the challenge.

“I don’t know what happened to make you think that all humans are evil and that seraphim are demons, and I’m truly sorry that happened to you. But no matter how many times you say it and wish it to be true, it will never become a reality. Sorey is the Shepherd for a very obvious reason, and I may not be his Prime Lord—and it makes me feel so many things—but I will always be by his side. I was raised to be, and there’s nowhere else I’d rather be than behind him giving my support.”

Mikleo turned from the table. He was walking away from the dinner when Oyun told him:

“Water is easily corruptible, and whatever it feeds becomes poisoned. Be careful, ruinous seraph, that your ‘love’ doesn’t poison your one flower in this sea of shadow.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did use a line from American Horror Story Asylum, and I also unintentionally yet still intentionally made Mikleo's rebuttals shorter.


	6. Comforting Breeze

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorey expresses his feelings about what happened with Mikleo with Rose and Zaveid, and Lailah and Edna are still nowhere to be found. When someone goes to look for them, they are met with yet another familiar face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woooooow I took really long with this. Not because I had a bit of de-motivation but exams and general stress from classes. But here we are with another chapter!

“Mikleo?” Sorey uttered when he woke up. An overwhelming sadness flooded him at the thought that maybe his beloved water seraph didn’t forgive him like he said he did. He wondered what he did wrong. Was it having him sleep with him? Or perhaps the time had come where he would swear his heart to him? “No, Mikleo wouldn’t want to do anything like that. At least…not in this place.” The walls were so thin that he could hear the other guests once again partaking in the activities that he was afraid to do. “Especially not when people could hear us.”

He remembered that Mikleo had to have dinner with Oyun, which made him feel more uneasy than before. He would have liked to go with him to make sure that he didn’t do anything to him. He respected that Oyun wanted to work together, but after the incident, he wasn’t willing to embarrass or hurt Mikleo again. Maybe that was why he felt so perturbed by his absence. How long was the dinner supposed to take?

He got out of bed, finding a small piece of stationary sitting on the folded masquerade outfit that he had made from the pieces of the others. He gingerly picked it up, reading aloud:

_As of this moment, we recommend that you wear your outfit. Failure to do so will end in expulsion from the hotel and possible legal action._

“Since when did that become a condition?” he muttered. Slipping on the masquerade outfit and neatly folding his travelling clothes, Sorey looked at himself in the mirror. A second look at his chosen conglomerate of articles revealed that maybe it didn’t look as good as he thought it did. “Well, when we pick out Mikleo’s outfit, then he can have his laugh and look better…not that that would be a problem,” he giggled to himself.

Sorey again looked at himself in the mirror, styling his hair down so that way he looked a little more formal. He felt like he was treating the affair like an engagement party or even a wedding reception—his wedding!

“What am I thinking? W-We aren’t ready for that kind of stuff!”

He blushed and hid his face from the mirror. He peeked through his fingers, gazing at himself and imagining Mikleo’s endearing face.

There was a sudden knock at the door followed by an eerie silence. The dressed-up Shepherd stepped to the door, slowly opening it. On the floor, right at his feet and the threshold of the door, there was a small black box with a tag that said his name on it. Sorey looked down the hall to see if anyone was leaving and then picked up the mysterious little gift. He returned to his bed, sitting down cautiously with the box gripped firmly in his hands. Carefully opening it, he found a pair of ear cuffs with the blackest obsidian he had ever seen. They were darker than the obsidian that had transported them to that world, allowing no light to pass through as if eating each microscopic photon that came near it.

Hesitantly, Sorey took off the cuffs he had worn since he was old enough to wear the jewelry. He substituted them for the new pair, returning to the mirror and scrutinizing them. He was sure that Mikleo wouldn’t appreciate the amount of black he was wearing, but it was a formal party after all. Before he left the room, he took the hat that he had been debating about since he got it with him.

Sorey felt oddly different as he walked to the seraphim’s room on the fourth floor. There was a dizzying sensation whirling around in his skull followed by brief periods of absentmindedness. If he wasn’t thinking about something pecific, he felt himself walking in and out of a fog. He became disoriented in the elevator to the fourth floor, and he felt the lustful gazes of the hotel guests as he strolled down the hall. By the time he had reached the bend to the storeroom, he was sure he was going to faint. He knocked on the door, but his movements were sluggish. The knocks were soft taps on wood.

Zaveid opened the door. He had returned with Rose some time ago to avoid suspicion, but Lailah and Edna had not returned. With the shadow world inhibiting their seraphic abilities, Rose couldn’t sense them either through the pacts.

“It’s Sorey,” Zaveid called back to Rose. “You don’t look so hot. Everything alright?”

He let him inside, guiding him to one of the cushions where he could rest for a little while. While Sorey tried to refocus himself, the wind seraph and the Squire examined his clothes. All black and dark blue—colors that a Shepherd wouldn’t wear too much of as a beacon of hope for humanity. The obsidian earrings sparkled slightly, and Rose was inclined to take them off.

“Isn’t it strange that his wardrobe has changed this drastically?” Rose whispered.

“Kind of, but at the same time, it looks like he’s only wearing this out of respect for that sleazy mayor,” Zaveid replied.

After a few minutes, Sorey sat up and glanced back and forth between his friends. Finally, he noticed that, aside from Mikleo, two of them were missing. He asked where Lailah and Edna were since he was sure that Mikleo was still with Oyun. He didn’t mention anything about the meeting, though.

“Lailah and Edna went out to get some information on this place,” Rose nervously explained. “They haven’t come back yet. Zaveid and I were wondering if we should go look for them, but those twins might be on the lookout.”

“They won’t do anything to you,” Sorey half-smiled. He wasn’t too sure about them himself, but if they lived in fear of getting caught, they would never find their friends.

“Where’s Mikleo?” Zaveid suddenly asked.

Sorey was silent. He didn’t want to tell him in case it caused them more anxiety.

“Well? He was with you last night…or a few hours ago since time apparently isn’t a thing here.”

He reluctantly told him, “Oyun invited himself to eat with him. He hasn’t been back since.”

“You let him go alone?” Rose chastised. “You know Oyun doesn’t like him. Why would you send him alone?”

“I was asleep. I think he snuck out then. I wanted to go with him.”

“We’ve got to find him.”

“Not yet,” Zaveid said after some thought. “This could serve as a nice distraction. Sorey, is everything alright between you and Mikleo now?”

Sorey was mildly confused because he was sure that Zaveid and everyone else had seen them make up. Mikleo even stayed with him for his nap. Why would he be asking about it? Of course, he answered that everything was okay, but it seemed like it wasn’t a good enough answer for the muscular wind seraph. He went through everything that happened between when they hugged and when he arrived at his seraphim’s room. Nothing bad had happened…

“Oyun had interrupted in our chat to bring you Mikleo and force you two to make up,” Rose said. “Did you two really talk it out or are you just hoping that Mikleo isn’t mad at you?”

Sorey thought again about the confrontation.

***

After everyone had left the Shepherd and the water seraph alone, Sorey sat Mikleo next to him on the bed, holding his hands gingerly. He was still scared to touch him. The porcelain beauty that sat with him was fractured and cracked, and he couldn’t bear to touch him knowing that he could fall apart at any given moment now. There was no glue to fix him, he feared, since the memory of Sorey hitting him hard enough to force him to one side was forever etched into his brain. In fact, he was almost certain that he could see the cracks in his cheek, but he told himself his mind was playing tricks on him since he was so anxious about it.

They didn’t say anything between them for a long time. It made Sorey nervous, but Mikleo was just unsure of what to do now. He wasn’t expecting Oyun to come in, snatch him away from the others, and throw him into his arms like a doll. He wasn’t mentally prepared to face him yet.

“Sor—”

“Mik—”

They both stopped midway through each other’s names. Mikleo motioned for Sorey to speak first since he didn’t have any idea of what to say to him. He couldn’t look in his eyes.

“Mikleo, I’m really sorry for hitting you,” Sorey softly said. “It was wrong, and you didn’t deserve it. I shouldn’t have hit you, especially in front of Oyun. I know apologizing doesn’t undo it, but it’s my fault for letting my emotions get the better of me.” Mikleo was silent, which made Sorey feel like he had to say something else. “You know, it really hurt to hit you like that.” He constrained himself to his space on the bed. “When I hit you and then blamed you, I felt so sick with myself because that’s not how you treat someone you care about. Oyun was obviously antagonizing you, and I took his side unknowing of the consequences. You…don’t have to forgive me since it’s like I betrayed you.”

Mikleo looked down at the now somewhat trembling fingers holding his hands. He didn’t want Sorey to continually blame himself, but he didn’t want to forgive him over a few honey-coated words. He didn’t doubt he was sorry, but how could he be so sure that Oyun had manipulated him?

When he looked up at him, he found those emerald eyes red and swollen from trying to contain his sadness. It tugged at his heart; he didn’t like to see Sorey look so upset. He wanted to accept his apology, but…what would be the repercussions?

“I’m not mad at you as much as I am…worried,” Mikleo carefully said. “You still like me, right? You mean what you’re saying, right?”

Mikleo allowed Sorey to pull himself closer to him, again looking as if he were going to break down. It always hurt to see each other sad, especially when one or the other wasn’t sure if their apology was good enough to win forgiveness. The water seraph knew that Sorey’s pure heart would never intentionally try to harm him, which bolstered his suspicion that Oyun had manipulated him. He lightly touched his cheeks before wrapping his arms around his neck and breathing in the earthy sunflower scent that was ever-present on his clothes.

“I want to be sure that you’re not just saying this to clear your conscience,” he spoke into his shoulder. “Are these your true feelings?”

Sorey hugged him tightly while nodding gently. Neither of them thought it would be appropriate to kiss, so just going to sleep in each other’s company was fine. As long as Mikleo was reassured that Sorey had told him how he truly felt, and as long as Sorey promised him that everything was still the same, both of them were for the most part content.

***

Rose was dubious that that was all it took to get Mikleo to accept his apology, but then again, it sounded more like it was some sort of plan. She couldn’t outright say it to Sorey, but after hearing how their time together went, she figured that perhaps Oyun had forced Mikleo to make up so he would stay with Sorey. By staying with Sorey, he would be allowed to move without much intervention from the others. But why go to such lengths? Wouldn’t it have been easier just to pick him up from the storeroom? Or was Oyun afraid of confronting her and Zaveid?

Zaveid wanted to ask her what was going on in her head, but things were becoming increasingly sensitive. He decided to shift the conversation.

“So, how come you’re dressed like that? Trying to respect the mayor?” he asked.

Sorey stood up, turning around to give him a good look at the ugly outfit. He sheepishly giggled. “It’s pretty bad, isn’t it,” he conceded. “But these earrings make up for it! Aren’t they cool? Do you think Mikleo would like them?”

“Sorey, you look like a walking caravan wreck,” Rose truthfully told him. “Anyway, aren’t you two even slightly worried that three of our friends are missing? I’m going to go look for them.”

Zaveid tried to stop her, but he wanted her to go. He had to keep an eye on Sorey because something was off about the outfit. He couldn’t help but feel that the obsidian earrings were suspicious. After all, the feathered cuffs that he always wore were special to him.

As Sorey enjoyed being in the company of one of his friends, Rose decided to head to the elevators. Nochipoli made it impossible to try and sense Lailah and Edna’s presence, so she was prepared to search every floor for them. She started from the second floor, combing the halls and listening for their voices behind any of the closed doors. She dreaded that they had been caught and forced to partake in whatever debauchery the other guests did. At the very least, she wanted them to be just sleeping somewhere.

The third floor’s search was fruitless, too. So was the fifth, sixth, and seventh floors. When she got to the eighth floor, she was beginning to lose hope that she would find them. The ninth floor made her wonder if she should turn back. The tenth floor yielded a strange inkling, and her heart fluttered.

“Did I sense them?” she whispered to herself. Returning to the elevator and heading to the eleventh floor, she felt a slightly stronger presence. The twelfth floor was stronger yet, and the thirteenth floor revealed whoever it was giving off the presence. When Rose disembarked on that floor, she realized that the sensation was familiar but different.

“Lailah! Edna!” she called out. “If you can hear me, say something!”

Again, the search turned up nothing. The presence was stronger than before, and she kept walking down the halls until she finally decided to go back to the elevator.

“This is getting really scary,” she mumbled. “I hope they’re okay.”

She reached the elevator, and she waited for the car to arrive. It was taking a long time.

“Did it break down?” she grumbled. “Why of all times? I don’t want to be stuck twelve floors from the storeroom…”

A gloved hand touched her shoulder, startling her into brandishing her daggers in defense. All at once, a flood of emotions hit her, and tears came to her periwinkle eyes. Her daggers clanked as they fell to the floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter, but I'm currently drawing up the Masquerade!AU outfits, and damn do they look go. I mean, my drawings are mediocre, but like, they're looking better than I expected. Maybe one day I'll actually put them on Tumblr--and by that I mean whenever I finish all of them.


	7. The Mask Shop

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The twins are told to take Sorey to the mask shop, but Zaveid and Mikleo learn that they have to buy their own clothes. Using this opportunity to talk in private, they leave Sorey. Sorey witnesses the mask-making process.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I've realized I hit a slump with all my fanfictions, and it may be because that finals happened and I'm trying to get things done with my cosplay group. But the new chapter is here!

There was a knock at the door behind Zaveid and Sorey not long after Rose had gone off to do her own investigation of the hotel. The wind seraph thought it was probably Lailah and Edna returning after missing for so long. The Shepherd thought it was his beloved water seraph returning from his dinner with the mayor of Nochipoli.

The door opened slowly and revealed the latter.

“Mikleo!” Sorey happily chirped. Giggling, he caught him in his arms, spinning him around in a tight hug. “I thought something had happened to you. Are you okay? He didn’t do anything to you, did he?”

Mikleo hesitated. “Nothing happened. Oyun and I had our talk, that’s all.”

Zaveid was relieved that he was unharmed, but now he was more worried about Lailah and Edna. With Rose gone, too, he could only hope that they would all be safe. His task at hand was to keep an eye on Sorey and Mikleo. It was obvious that Oyun had a fascination with the Shepherd and an otherworldly hatred for Mikleo, so there was no telling what could happen other than something nasty.

Mikleo glanced at Sorey’s outfit and, more closely, his obsidian earrings. He was repulsed by everything not because it looked horrible but because all these things belonged to Oyun. He felt that by wearing all these lacy garments and ornaments, Sorey was accepting him, placing him higher than his friends, and worst of all, allowing him to influence him. It was an underhanded way of worming into his innocent heart.

He spoke up, “I thought these clothes were supposed to be for the masquerade.”

“They are, but I guess those twins left the note that said I had to wear them or else we’d all be kicked out,” Sorey explained innocently.

“That wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing,” Mikleo grumbled.

Zaveid cleared his throat as a cue not to upset him. “Anyway, Oyun mentioned a while ago about going to get a mask for us. Actually, Mikleo and I and the rest of us have yet to get any clothes for the masquerade.”

Suddenly, there was another knock at the door.

“Speak of the devil.”

Mikleo opened the door to find the twins dressed in black day dresses and sun hats. “Oyun has requested that all of you join us while we shop. Today is the day that the Shepherd gets his mask,” they quietly said.

“And what about us?” Zaveid asked them alluringly. “A wind seraph—nay, a man of my prowess needs something to attract the fine women of this realm!”

“There are clothing shops up and down the street from the mask shop. Please use your own funds to purchase your outfit.”

“We have to _buy_ ours?!”

“Oyun does not have clothes to fit you.”

Sorey calmed him, but he was kind of bothered that they suddenly had to pay. After all, up till now, they had been treated like VIP guests. He followed the twins into the hall without looking back at his seraphim or asking for their opinion on the matter. It irked Mikleo, but now he had to find a way to make Zaveid feel better. Zaveid, on the other hand, was upset because whatever they did buy was going to cost more money than they had. He had been observing the entire time they had been there. The townspeople and the hotel guests wore extravagant clothes. Black Venetian or Victorian styles with large and protruding buttresses or coattails; he could feel himself being choked and stifled by collars and his pocket emptying.

“Hey, I have a question,” he stated as they waited for the elevator. “How come everyone here dresses in black?”

“It is simply Oyun’s code,” the twins replied.

“Code?”

They stepped into the elevator.

“What do you mean by that?”

Mikleo nudged him. He was asking too many questions. Once they were away from them, they could talk in private. Sorey peeked at the water seraph. He was behaving rather standoffish, and it bothered him. He wanted to ask him what was wrong and he would have if he didn’t feel like he would just deflect the question, especially with the twins there with them.

“Lord Shepherd, we will be going to Oyun’s favorite venue for mask shopping,” one twin said.

“It’s called _Maska Magazin_ ,” the other twin said.

“Sounds…interesting,” Sorey nervously said. He didn’t like their eerie tone. “Oh, Mikleo, we should get a mask for you, too! And Zaveid! Do you think the girls would like some?” 

He was trying his best to sound excited for shopping because if he was happy to do something, he thought that the positive vibes would reverberate in his friends.

Mikleo didn’t respond, but Zaveid offered a drawn-out “sure” to sate his young master. It didn’t do much to help him; the one he was most worried about was ignoring him.

When the elevator reached the first floor and the twins led them out onto the streets of Nochipoli, Mikleo pulled Zaveid in the opposite direction of _Maska Magazin_. Sorey suggested that they all go to the mask shop together before going to find outfits for them, but Mikleo was adamant about going to buy his clothes first.

“But…I wanted your opinions on which masks to get,” Sorey dejectedly said. “I thought it would be fun.”

“You know what I like. You can just pick one for me,” Mikleo replied.

He pushed Zaveid in the direction of one of the many boutiques in the town, and once they were far enough down the block and Zaveid turned around to see that Sorey and the twins had left, he asked him:

“You’re being awfully harsh to Sorey. You two have another fight?”

Mikleo didn’t answer—or rather, he didn’t want to. The discussion that had happened between him and the black-clad mayor really did get to him, and he was in a bad mood from both that and his own faltering trust in Sorey. He had stood up for him, making him feel better only in that respect yet feel like there was something inherently missing. When he told Oyun that Sorey wasn’t like the humans he knew, it felt like it wasn’t a sincere sentiment in hindsight.

"Oyun said something about Sorey, and I’m sure it was meant to confuse me, but he kept insinuating that…” Mikleo paused to bite his lip; he felt a lump forming in his throat—something that never really happened. “He was insinuating that Sorey had forced me to tell him my true name.”

Zaveid brought a finger to his chin. “You guys were just kids when you told him, so I doubt that he forced you,” he thoughtfully said. Then he realized that he meant the other connotation. “The guy’s a frickin’ creep.”

“And seeing Sorey wear his clothes—oh, what were those earrings?”

“The new pair of cuffs? I don’t really know, but they’re pretty gaudy. Other than that, I can’t say much. Maybe if we can get our clothes quick enough, we can do a little investigating.”

By now, they were standing in front of a boutique that, like all the other stores, had elegant black clothing. Before they looked for themselves, Zaveid picked up a dress that he thought Rose would like.

Mikleo looked around for his outfit, pulling at shirts and pants and coats that he thought would look decent enough. Nothing particularly struck his fancy, but he did his best to coordinate. At least he had that—he knew how to make an outfit as opposed to his poor Sorey, whose fashion sense was the equivalent of a Hyland goat.

Zaveid chose something that covered his muscles, but when he tried it on, he felt a pang in his chest that almost made him collapse. Mikleo rushed to his side, helping him collect his items and offering to heal him despite both of them knowing that they couldn’t use their artes.

“I’m fine…just…I forgot about the oath,” Zaveid puffed. “I can’t wear any of these things or else my oath will break, and if that happens, you could be in trouble.”

“You were serious about that oath!?” Mikleo rasped.

“Why would you think I wasn’t!? Anyway, I might be compromised if we’re all going to the masquerade. Don’t think they’ll let me in without a shirt.”

“We’ll figure something out. It might be best to have someone on the outside.”

Zaveid smirked at him. Mikleo was already thinking about a plan, but they had to be careful that they didn’t indicate that they were up to something.

***

“ _Cirgisi_ ,” the mask maker rumbled inside _Maska Magazin_. Sorey nodded in his direction, too afraid to properly greet him.

He was unnerved by the amounts of masks in the shop. Unlike the dress code of the whole town, the masks were colorful and shining. Some only covered the eyes, some cover everything but the mouth and chin, and some were full masks. The faces were smiling, crying, growling, screaming—every emotion that Sorey could think of was hanging on the wall. They were red, gold, blue, green, white, purple—every color he could imagine. He thought he would be amazed by them, and he was to a certain extent, but looking at them now…it was like staring at clowns and harlequins of the dead.

“These masks are so…interesting,” he sheepishly told the twins. “I…uh, I don’t know where to start.”

“Take your time, Lord Shepherd,” one twin said.

“We have all the time in the world for you,” the other twin said.

“Is there anything you would like to try?” the mask maker asked. Thankfully he knew the modern language, and Sorey didn’t have to wrack his brain to respond. “I will help you put it on.”

A little more comfortable now, Sorey pointed at a number of masks he thought would look nice with his outfit. The mask maker pulled them gently from the walls, helping to tie them around his head. None of them felt like him, and he worried that he wouldn’t find one that would fit him comfortably and reflect what he wanted to reflect.

In his quest to find a proper mask, he found a half-butterfly mask. It was aquamarine just like Mikleo’s hair, and three silver wires with pearls at the ends curled from where the eyelashes would be. Silver wire also curled in a serpentine labyrinth about the side of his eye, and two pale ivory roses that looked like tears off to the side dotted the cheek. On the butterfly side, two peacock feathers swayed behind a tiny bouquet of white flowers and light blue feathers. The end of the butterfly tail had three pearls. Two thin chains rounded down and back up to the edge of the mask, and it seemed like they were to bring out the cheeks. On the forehead was a tiny turquoise gem set in a gold crown.

“I’ll take this one for Mikleo,” Sorey happily said. “Maybe then he’ll talk to me.”

He picked up a mask for Rose and Zaveid, but there was still nothing that he found that could satisfy whatever unrealistic standard he had.

“What are you looking for, Lord Shepherd?” the twins asked. “The mask maker can make a custom one for you.”

“I don’t know,” Sorey admitted. “I don’t think anything would look good on me.”

“Nonsense, child,” the mask maker said. He led him to the back of the shop where there was a reclining chair. There were three tables lining the room with all sorts of equipment and supplies. It looked more like an experimentation room than a mask maker’s work studio. “Have a seat.”

Sorey was hesitant but followed the order. He lay on the reclining chair carefully so he didn’t ruin his outfit. “What do I have to do?” he asked.

The mask maker told him to list what he wanted in his mask. Full-face? With the only the mouth visible? Just covering the eyes? Butterfly accents? Roses? Feathers?

“Oyun said to give him one that doesn’t cover his mouth,” the twins suddenly said. “Black out the eyes—it’ll complete the look.”

“I would prefer if it only covered my eyes,” Sorey hesitantly said. The twins looked at him, and for a brief second, he saw a murderous glint peeking through their bangs in their eyes. “On second thought, maybe the twins should order it if Oyun has a specific idea for my mask.”

He just lay on the reclining chair as he listened to the twins call out the specific items to put into the mask. He stared up at the ceiling where he found cherubs and angels mixing with imps and demons in what looked like a bloody battle. The borders of the large tessellating tiles were made of bones, the corners skulls. Sorey had had his share of death and war, yet the scene that was displayed before him made his heart race. He didn’t want to see the scene anymore.

“How long will this all take?” he asked, a sense of dread overcoming him. The twins and the mask maker were no longer there talking about his mask. It was quiet. “Is anyone there?”

Thudding footsteps sounded as the mask maker re-entered the studio. Sorey sat up, but the mask maker forced him back down with an effortless push. He was telling him, “Sit still, sit still, my art will take but a moment,” over and over again. He pulled from his pocket a few pieces of dirty twine which he used to tied Sorey’s wrists to the armrests of the chair.

“W-What are you doing?!” Sorey interrogated.

“The process is a painful one. I need to restrain you for it.”

Sorey was utterly terrified knowing that he had foolishly walked into a trap. He was going to scream in hopes that Mikleo or anyone outside the shop would hear him and come to his aid, but another person walked in wearing the mask of a plague doctor. He wore black robe and a short black top hat. In his hands were a jeweled cane and a small briefcase.

“You came at the right time, Huglun. Do you have the morphine?” the mask maker asked.

“Why do I need morphine?” Sorey breathlessly questioned.

“Of course, a good doctor is never without it. Semq, he’s not even properly restrained. How am I to inject it into him if he can easily run away?” Huglun chastised. Of course, Sorey couldn’t escape because the mask maker named Semq had tied the twine so tight that he was losing the feeling in his fingers. “Give me more of the twine. Get the other leg. Remember, he must be completely still for the procedure.”

“What the hell is this procedure?!” Sorey demanded to know.

“Do not worry, my child,” Huglun told him. “After this, you will feel much more comfortable with Mayor Oyun.” He walked back to his briefcase, shuffling through the bottles and vials of different drugs. “All we need is to extract some of your essence, and the process can be quite painful without the appropriate painkiller.”

“What does this have to do with making a mask?! Let me go! Mikleo!”

Huglun approached his side then pushed up his sleeve to reveal the inside of his elbow. There was the faint blue line of a vein barely raising out of his skin. The doctor punctured the cork sealing the bottle of morphine with a thin tube, pierced Sorey’s arm with something like an IV needle, and held the bottle upside down for just a few seconds. Soon enough, Sorey’s consciousness was wavering, and the shapes of Huglun and Semq warped into amorphous blobs.

Next, he took a scalpel from his briefcase. Semq lifted Sorey’s shirt so that his well-defined muscles were on display for these two strange men. Huglun made a deep incision on his side, and a tiny stream of blood trickled out. He collected a few drops in a vial then added a clear liquid which he delineated to the disoriented Sorey was the anticoagulant agent in leech saliva. He then made another incision—longer and deeper than the first—so that more blood came out. Semq held the mold for his mask under it, and after sprinkling some sort of shining black dust on it, he went to work building the mask while Huglun stitched the incisions.

The doctor untied Sorey and left promptly. Semq continued to work, and by the time Sorey had woken up from the morphine passing through his system, he was finished with his mask.

“How does it look, Lord Shepherd?” he asked him.

Still groggy, Sorey replied, “Beautiful…”

“Let me put it on you.”

The mask fit perfectly on Sorey’s face. It left his mouth and chin uncovered, the right side reminiscent of a butterfly wing and the left side coiling tendrils of black wire that held pearls. Interlaced in the wire, tiny diamonds glittered. The mask was painted in a sparkling dark blue with gold painted around the upper half of the eyeholes. Like the mask he had picked out for Mikleo, it had a small crown like piece with a diamond carefully set in the center. The eyes were covered by black sheer material lining the inside of the mask.

“With this on, Oyun and you can have a wonderful time together at the masquerade,” Semq told him.

He helped Sorey to the front register, where he paid for the masks he had picked for Rose, Zaveid, and Mikleo. Sorey, slowly recovering from the drug, walked out into the street.  
He didn’t bother to look for Mikleo and Zaveid; they would eventually come back to the hotel on their own. Right now, all he wanted to do was see Oyun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Getting a little creepier, right? That said, I still have to finish Edna's and Lailah's masquerade outfits. Zaveid, Rose, Mikleo, and Sorey all have theirs. Also used Google Translate for the mask shop's name in Russian.


	8. When the Missing Are Found

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Zaveid and Mikleo return from shopping, they find Lailah and Edna in their room, but they seem different.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have I mentioned that it's going to get weirder? And if you've seen Shimoneta, then you can probably imagine Lailah as Anna (especially since they were voiced by the same lady, RIP Miyu Matsuki, you had a wonderful voice). Ad I would have had this up sooner, but classes started and it was my birthday a few days ago, and I've been working on cosplay.

Mikleo and Zaveid, unsure of where Sorey went after the mask shop, decided to head back to the hotel. Naturally, the former wanted to search for him, but being out among the citizens of Nochipoli made Zaveid uncomfortable, and he had taken it upon himself to care for him in Sorey’s absence—both figuratively and literally. After several attempts of convincing him that he had probably gone back to the hotel himself, Mikleo finally listened to him.

As they walked, they looked up at the Christmas tree. For a town so filled with eccentric black-clad people, it was still unnerving to see something so colorful. Yet, in the dismal greyness that hung over the town, the sparkling green was dimmed. It was almost like the clothes they had bought from the boutique, which they were instructed by the shopkeeper herself to put on as soon as they returned to their room. Whatever color they did have, it was desaturated.

“Mayor Oyun’s rules are something to be followed to a ‘T’,” she had sweetly whispered. “If you don’t, there’s no guarantee what could happen.”

The shopkeeper was wearing a black dress with a black veil over her face. She looked like a bride on her way to a funeral, and more peculiar was that her skin was just as black. The woman was a shadow.

Since then, it bothered him. When they had first entered this world, they were fighting against their shadows. They were complete mirrors of them, yet they haven’t seen them around. Mikleo wanted to try finding his, but perhaps confronting a shadow of yourself was the same as staring into an abyss. The shadows had to be more than just carbon copies of them.

But that was neither here nor there at the moment. Zaveid wanted to get back to the hotel and try on the outfit he had picked specifically to uphold his oath. Perhaps they would run into Sorey, too. It would have been a nice pick-me-up.

“Don’t look so glum, Mikboy! Really, I’ll bet they probably told Sorey to just go back to the hotel; after all, they don’t really give a shit about us, right?” he laughed. But Mikleo wasn’t happy about it. “Seriously, don’t worry about it.”

“I’m not worry about Sorey as much as what the shopkeeper had said about Oyun’s rules,” he confessed. “I mean, I’m worried about him, but now we have to follow rules? There’s no guarantee of what could happen? Zaveid, what if he unknowingly breaks a rule? Sorey can be absentminded, but here, such ignorance is a crime apparently.”

Zaveid rested a hand on his shoulder after they entered the hotel. He reassured him that everything would be fine, yet there was still the nagging feeling that he would have to investigate the hotel again. And he didn’t want to leave him alone or bring him along. He had to wait for someone to come back to the storeroom because, in the grand scheme of things, he was still being targeted.

On the fourth floor, they opened their room and found Lailah and Edna, both dressed in black and both wearing full-face Venetian masks. Both of them wore frilly dresses, and Mikleo and Zaveid weren’t sure whether to be cautious or impressed. The question remained—where had they been all this time?

Lailah fanned her papers in front of her face with a giggle. “Don’t worry about that,” she said. “After all, we’re here now. More importantly, don’t you think we’re beautiful?”

Her dress was all black save for red roses and ribbon decorating the center of her bosom and down her sides. The bonnet she wore in place of her usual tiara also had red roses and pink ribbon with a black veil down the back, and inside was a rose tiara with ram horns. The dress itself ended mid-thigh, but like the bonnet, it had a sheer tail that flowed behind her. Two pearls hung from the bow on her waist. Her black tights had silver chandelier designs ending in crosses, and her shoes were blood red and decorated with a multitude of bows. Her mask was a peculiar one—far too large and gaudy to match her dress. The bottom lip and chin looked like sheet music bordered with gold while the forehead and cheeks were ruby red. Around the eyes, the wings of a golden butterfly shined, its body a massive red jewel in the center of her forehead. A rose adorned her right temple with beads shaped like baby’s breath, and red bead tassels hung from either side. The eyeholes were blacked out.

Edna approached Zaveid. She was dressed in a black frilly sundress with constellations all around the skirt. The bodice of the dress had three star buttons and an extra button on the bow around her waist in the front. At the top of the bodice was a slightly larger star with a chain of gold beads draping around it. A sheer cape covered her thin shoulders. Her black tight were similar to Lailah’s, except instead of silver chandelier chains, it looks like a fishnet of gold lace with clovers dotting the sides. Her shoes—also black—had a little heel, orange ribbon wrapping around her ankles while a pearl chain draped under the black strap. The bows at the toe were orange, and the pearly brooch in the center had a gold setting with a pearl hanging off of it. Her regular umbrella still had the mascot that her brother had given her centuries ago. Her full-face mask was gold with white lacelike marking on the cheeks and chin. There were swirls on the forehead, and at the very top was a swirling metal flower. On the right temple, a golden rose and accompanying ferns coiled around while the other side had a white lace applique. Like Lailah’s mask, while tassels connected to pearls hung from the sides. The eyeholes were also blacked out.

“Can you even see through the mask?” Mikleo asked.

“Of course, Mikleo,” Edna replied. “How else would we have gotten here?”

Zaveid nudged him. He wanted to leave so he could check the place out and look for Rose. He was no longer being forced to chaperone him. Mikleo wanted to ask the two girls what had happened since they had disappeared, but he didn’t want Zaveid to hear in case something pertaining to Sorey had come up. It wasn’t that he didn’t want him to get involved but more so that he didn’t want them to censor themselves. The wind seraph backed up to the door, but he couldn’t avoid their gaze.

“You’re heading out again?” Lailah asked somewhat forlorn.

“I’ve got something to ask Sorey,” Zaveid lied.

“Oh, well, if you’re going out, you should put on your new outfit. We have to abide by the rules here.”

Mikleo and Zaveid exchanged puzzled looks, but if he wanted to avoid suspicion, he had to comply. While both of them set their bags down, they whispered between themselves that something was clearly off. But it was better not to draw attention to themselves; Zaveid pulled out his clothes.

“There’s no changing room here,” he sighed. I’ll have to find a bathroom—maybe Sorey can let me borrow his bathroom.”

“Why not change here?” Lailah asked ostentatiously.

“How about no?” Zaveid replied after processing that Lailah, the most motherly of them all, had suggested such an idea.

“What’s wrong? It’s not like we need to be ashamed of seeing each other naked,” Edna continued. “You’ve seen women without their clothes, and you’re always shirtless, so why can’t we see you?”

Mikleo and Zaveid again exchanged looks; the latter was particularly offended that they had accused him of peeping on naked women. What was going on in their heads? The water seraph was about to stand up to them about such a strange request and the preoccupation with seeing each other naked, but the other dropped his clothes on the floor.

“Zaveid, you don’t have to—”

“It…It isn’t every day that a girl asks to see the whole package,” he said, but there was a hint of quaking nervousness in his voice. “Why not give them what they want?” He unbuckled his belt, but his hands were shaking. As he unzipped and slipped off his pants, he suddenly felt humiliation in the atmosphere. He peeked at Lailah and Edna out of his peripheral vision. They were waiting with anticipation like seeing him in his undergarments was a delicious treat. “E-Eizen would kill me if he knew I was undressing in front of Edna…”

“Eizen will never know,” Edna cooed.

Zaveid removed his necklace. His bottoms were a pair of short shorts with chain garters connected to baggy leg warmers. Contrary to what most attire in Nochipoli consisted of, he had three pure white belts around his hips. A small cape billowed around his rear, ending at the bend of his knees. His shirt was an odd design that thankfully complied with his oath. The front and the back had been left out so that only pieces of fabric covered the sides secured by a green band that went under his chest. The collar had a piece that looked similar to the pendant of his necklace, and two green ribbons draped from it. The edges of his fingerless gloves and the edges of the ensemble including the strap that wrapped around just under his chest were the same green. He attached his pendulums to the top of the cape.

Lailah sighed almost erotically as she gazed upon his outfit, and while Zaveid normally would have liked that she was even looking at him, he couldn’t be happy that she was looking at him with uncharacteristic lust.

“Where’s your mask?” Edna asked.

“Shit, we forgot them,” he said.

“Well, that’s okay. Masks only get in the way of the adult fun.”

Mikleo couldn’t take it anymore. “Edna, what is wrong with you? Since when did you start talking like that?”

“Aw, is Mikleo feeling left out? Invite Sorey down here, and we can all enjoy ourselves.”

Zaveid flashed a peek at him, a signal to run to Sorey’s room and stay there until he could talk some sense into the girls. Mikleo refused to go _because_ they needed some sense knocked into them.

“Mikleo, you should get dressed, too. After all, we all must comply with the rules,” Lailah giggled.

“Mikleo, go get dressed with Sorey,” Zaveid ordered. “No need for you to be subjected to such lecherous looks and calls.”

“Pot, meet kettle,” Edna teased. She and Lailah approached him, latching onto his arms and legs. “If Mikleo, doesn’t want to be here with us, then he doesn’t have to be. There’s enough man in Zaveid for the both of us.”

Mikleo took the bag with his outfit to Sorey’s room. He couldn’t stop thinking about what was going on in Edna and Lailah’s heads, and he was certainly scared for Zaveid. It was true that he was always looking for a cute girl to flirt with, but their new personalities were too much for him to handle. Would he really be okay? In all honesty, even Lailah and Edna’s new fascination with the taboo was smothering, and it rubbed Mikleo the wrong way knowing that Edna no longer used her silly nickname for him. Then he remembered Sorey had gone to get a mask, too. He had to prepare himself for the shell of the Shepherd he once loved if Lailah and Edna had turned out like that.

***

“Dezel…is that really you?” Rose whimpered.

She stared at the shadow’s face. Despite everything being tinted dark grey, she remembered everything about the wind seraph that had always protected her. The slightly tanned skin, the shoulder-length silver hair with its green tips and bangs that covered the forever-lost peridot eyes, the strange jagged teeth that made him seem more like a hellion than a seraph. He didn’t have the hat that he always wore, and his clothes were nothing like what he wore when he traveled with them. He wore something like a nun’s robe—all black and not even remotely adhering to his shape.

“R-Rose…” Dezel’s shadow uttered, unfamiliar with speech. “Rose.”

“Dezel, you idiot,” Rose sobbed. “You can’t just show up like that out of the blue. It’s been so long since I last saw you. Do you know how much I miss you? More than you could ever imagine!”

She hugged him tightly, remembering how he smelled like lavender and mint. Seeing him just before he sacrificed his life for her in Pendrago when they were fighting against Symonne had made her regret not noticing how much he cared for her, and deep in her heart she knew that he was dead. Yet the seraph standing in front of her felt so real, like he never left her.

“I know I said it before, but I’m so sorry that I never noticed you right there protecting me even though you should have protected yourself,” she said into his chest. She peered up at him. “I don’t know how long I’m going to be here, but I want to spend every second with you.”

“Rose, I’m not the Dezel you knew and loved,” the shadow said. “I’m merely a reflection of what’s in your heart. The real Dezel—”

“I know, he lives on in me, but please let me cherish this moment for what it is.”

“If it makes you happy, you may call me Dezel. Not ‘Dezel’s shadow’.”

“Of course! But Mr. Shadow, won’t you feel sad that I don’t see you for who you are?”

Dezel smiled at her, his clouded eyes peeking through his bangs. Not every shadow in Nochipoli cared only about themselves. Some of them wished just to be acknowledged that they existed in some form. The shadow’s personality was to give comfort to those who had lost everything, and even though Rose didn’t consider herself to be hopelessly depressed, she appreciated that the shadow was there. It gave her a chance to reconnect with the wind seraph that had been with her.

She took the shadow’s hand after drying her tears and forcing herself to be happy. “Let’s get you some proper clothes. That robe looks hideous, and Dezel would want better.”

“Okay.”

“You could try to fight back. Dezel isn’t a pushover!”

“I don’t need new clothes; there’s nothing wrong with this robe.”

“That’s better!”

Rose led Dezel down through the first-floor lobby and out into town. She passed by all sorts of shops both normal boutiques and more risqué businesses. She came to the boutique that Mikleo and Zaveid had bought their clothes, and there she picked out his outfit. She didn’t want him to put it on just yet; she wanted to surprise him. He couldn’t see nor feel the wind—considering there was no wind—but she believed that he would be able to picture it once he felt the fabrics brush against his skin. And even if he couldn’t, she would describe it to him. After she had chosen his outfit, she bought hers.

“Why don’t we put them on now?” Dezel asked as she tried on her new dress in a changing room. “It would save us the time of walking all the way back and changing there.”

“It wouldn’t really make a difference, you know,” Rose told him. “Besides, I want the others to see how well we match, too. If it gets dusty on the way back, it’ll just look ugly.” She got dressed in her usual clothes. “We have to get you a mask, too.”

Dezel flinched at the sound of it. He declined getting a mask.

“But that completes the look!”

He still refused. He faced her direction, wanting to tell her the secret about the masks, but the shopkeeper was standing right there next to them. The shadow, bound by the rules of Nochipoli’s society, couldn’t risk telling her what she needed to know when there were eyes and ears everywhere. Unable to further explain his position, he followed her to the mask shop and watched her pick out and purchase his mask.

“What about yours?” he asked out of formality.

“I can’t decide. I’ll bring Zaveid or Mikleo along to pick. Sorey wouldn’t be much help because they’d all look good to him.”

***

Mikleo knocked on Sorey’s door, but there was no answer. At first, he wasn’t going to open it without permission, but he had to tell him what was going on with Lailah and Edna, and such matters couldn’t wait until he was ready to invite him into his room. He had a sickening feeling in his stomach that Zaveid, left alone with them, was in some sort of danger.

The door was unlocked, but the room was dark. Sorey was quietly snoring away on his bed. Mikleo carefully stepped up to his side to find that his dear Shepherd was also wearing one of those accursed masks. His initial reaction was to rip it off his face. It looked like a demonic cage on him. He reached for it, but he paused. Pulling it off would disturb him or anger him. Why would he get angry about him trying to save him? Mikleo repeated it in his head—Oyun was giving these things to him, and he was just accepting them as gifts from a long-lost friend. Why did he care so much about someone he just met?

Mikleo nudged him. “S-Sorey, wake up,” he quietly said. A thought crossed his mind—what if the twins found him inside his room? No, he couldn’t run away. “Sorey, please, you have to wake up. I need to talk to you.”

Sorey breathed deeply as he roused, but with his eyes covered by the mask, Mikleo wasn’t sure if he was falling back to sleep. Then he sat up.

“Mikleo? What are you doing in here? Did you get caught?” Sorey asked him sleepily.

Swallowing his apprehension, the water seraph joined him at the bed’s edge. He bit his lip first, but if he didn’t speak now, then things would continue on this strange path and he would risk losing his Shepherd.

“Sorey, why are you wearing a mask while you’re sleeping?” he nervously asked.

“Oh, it was specially made for me at Oyun’s request,” Sorey happily said. “I mean, I had to pay for it, but he designed it. I thought it was too pretty to take it off. Now, I know what you’re thinking—it’ll get crushed, but surprisingly it doesn’t get damaged. And I bought masks for you and Zaveid and Rose, too! You should try it on! Wait, you’re not wearing your new clothes. You did buy some, right? I can’t wait to see Zaveid’s since he has that weird oath to deal with.”

He was rambling, which made Mikleo uncomfortable. It was almost like Oyun had given him some sort of drug on top of the mask; his speech pattern was too similar to that wicked man.

“Mikleo, let’s take a bath together,” Sorey sweetly said after noticing that he seemed subdued. He leaned into him, breathing on his neck, but the mask was poking Mikleo, and he couldn’t exactly appreciate the closeness thanks to it.

Mikleo agreed to the bath thinking that he would have to take the mask off then. He followed him into the bathroom, undressed with him, and sat in the porcelain tub with him.   
Sorey didn’t take the mask off.

“S-Sorey, don’t you think you’re being ridiculous now?” Mikleo asked him. The water will ruin it.”

“It’s indestructible!”

Mikleo tried to look past it. He needed to tell him what was going with Lailah and Edna.

“Anyway, something is wrong with Lailah and Edna. They…were trying to get Zaveid and me to strip in front of them, and you know they’re not like that. I have reason to believe that this is Oyun’s doing,” he stated.

“Well, where’s your proof?” Sorey asked him, as if he had put him on trial.

“What do you mean proof? I just told you that Lailah and Edna are preoccupied with other things, and it’s weird.”

Sorey scoffed, rolling his eyes under the mask. After all, he wasn’t producing any sort of concrete evidence that Oyun had something to do with it. Mikleo was just jealous that Sorey was paying more attention to him. As the Shepherd, he had to be something of a diplomat, right? And Oyun meant no harm. Sure, he and Mikleo had gotten into spats, but he chalked it up to Mikleo being overprotective, possessive, and jealous about their relationship.

“Don’t you care about your friends? Lailah and Edna could be molesting Zaveid right now!”

“But Zaveid is a promiscuous seraph; I’m sure he’s enjoying his time with that kind of attention,” Sorey said, being blasé about the entire ordeal. “We all know he’d never get it with any of us while we’re on our quest.”

Mikleo couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He was speechless, unable to process what Sorey had said and unable to respond to the level of carelessness. Until he thought about if it were him.

“If it were me…”

Sorey looked at him.

“If it were me that was in that situation, would you care? Or would you say the same thing?”

“Well, you’re not into that kind of stuff, but it’s not like it’s bad. Just let the girls have their fun. God, what are you, their mother?”

Mikleo’s heart ached. He couldn’t say anything without screaming at him. He tried so many different ways to enunciate his concern, but each idea turned into him yelling at him. He tried to rationalize that yelling wouldn’t be a bad idea, but it wouldn’t work if Sorey was already unconcerned about the problem.

“Why are you being like this?” Mikleo quietly asked him. Sorey grimaced at him. “I thought things had gotten better after you hit me, but I was wrong. This is all Oyun’s doing. He’s turned you into whatever you are now!”

Sorey sighed nonchalantly. “Man, you really are jealous,” he said. “Or maybe this obsession with Oyun is insight into how you truly feel about him?”

“You think I’m jealous?!” Mikleo sprang up. “Sorey, you don’t care about anyone but him, and you just met him! How many times do I have to say that something is not right?!   
Why are you defending him? Why don’t you stand up for us when he speaks negatively about us? Why are you so different?”

Mikleo’s voice was beginning to crack, the sadness from confronting him bubbling over until tears beaded in his eyes. He forced himself not to cry, but Sorey accosted him. Grabbing his wrist so tight that he almost broke it, he pulled him out of the tub. The water seraph was afraid he was going to hit him again. Instead, Sorey pushed him towards the bed, demanding that he got dressed in his new clothes and mask and leaving at once. He gathered up the clothes he had always worn into a pile.

“Oyun wants to get rid of these tomorrow, so I’ll just keep them here,” he said. After a moment of silence as Mikleo timidly put on the new outfit, he finally told him, “If you’re going to come in here and complain and whine and be a little bitch about Oyun and his kindness, then you’re not welcome in here—ever. I’m the one who’s different? You’ve been nothing short of a spoiled brat since we got here. Once you’re done, get out.”

Mikleo slowed down. This wasn’t Sorey—he would never use profanity or speak to him in such a way. Whoever was in that hellish mask was not the one he had loved his entire life.

“Hurry up,” he ordered.

“Sorey…I’m sorry,” Mikleo apologized. “But…the real you has got to be in there. You’re not like this.” Taking a step towards him, he held out his hand. “Sorey…”

The masked Shepherd grasped his hand, throwing him out of the room and locking the door behind him. He was overcome with horrible sorrow and regret. His legs gave out underneath him, and he slid down the door to the floor. He covered his mouth to muffle his sobs. He wasn’t going to give up trying to reawaken the Sorey that he loved, but seeing the transformation was too much for one night. He held the mask in his hand, deciding that he wouldn’t wear it until he was forced to. He couldn’t give into Oyun’s rules. He couldn’t be controlled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry, my children! I'm sorry for doing this to you!


	9. Word Games

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mikleo tries to get Oyun to comply with his request. Zaveid becomes victim to one of the vices of the Shadow World.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The plan was to upload last week,but I had a test to study for. But here we are with the next chapter, and it has a little influence from Handmaid's Tale.

Mikleo eventually stopped crying, or perhaps the tears stopped flowing after he finally got it through his head that Sorey was angry at him for talking bad about Oyun. He wasn’t going to relent; this man had stolen away the one he loved and manipulated him and he intended to stop him. Still, trying to retain a shred of motivation to fight back was difficult. Anyone would give up if they saw their loved one resist them so intensely. No, he couldn’t think like that. Sorey needed him to break out of this horrible dream, and the only way to do that was to break Oyun’s hold on him by destroying that mask. But it wasn’t going to be easy. The way Sorey was so adamant about keeping it on his face made it seem like it bonded to him much deeper than his skin. Its ribbon ties were wrapped around his heart. Like a marionette, he was strung up and dancing to the black-clad mayor’s tunes.

He picked himself up even though he felt drained. He had to go to Oyun. He stopped in front of the elevator, and as he waited for it to arrive to the seventh floor, he fixed his clothes. His mask was in his hand; he wasn’t going to put it on unless he absolutely had to. He would wear it when he went to see Oyun, and maybe…maybe under the guise of the mask he could slit that slimy neck.

“You can’t think this way,” Mikleo told himself. “Bloodlust is unbecoming. There must be a way to break whatever spell is on Sorey without getting my hands too dirty.”

The elevator finally arrived and after checking on Zaveid when he got back to his room, he would demand that the twins take him to see their master. The doors opened. Rose was standing there waiting to head up to the storeroom. Dezel wasn’t visible from the entrance of the elevator. He simply looked like a shadow on the wall.

Rose was wearing a black dress with a slit up her leg to her hip. There was a dusky pink rose with gold thorns lining the bottom of the skirt, and the bodice had a window for the top of her breasts. Mesh wrapped around her waist and was held in place by a rose patch. A mesh cape flowed behind her. The sleeves tapered to her hands, and her boots came up to her thighs. A large gold bow was tied at the crotch of the slit which teased a small triangle of flesh. Her daggers’ sheaths had been tied to her back.

“Rose? What brings you to this floor?” Mikleo asked her before noticing that the shadow had a definite shape. “Why is this shadow with you?” He was prepared to summon his staff.

“It’s okay,” Rose said. “It’s kind of a long story, but this shadow wanted to make me happy by looking like Dezel while we’re here. He doesn’t mean any harm. And trust me. I can sense bloodlust.”

Mikleo scrutinized the shadow. Dezel wore a blindfold over his eyes and a small choker. His coat was a double-breasted one, and he had one black glove and one mesh glove held in place by a rose tie. A single belt strap led under one of the lapels. His boots climbed his legs with his bloomer-like pants stuffed into them. Silver and gold chains crisscrossed around his body, and his top hat had a single gold-plated rose in his regular belt. Though he wasn’t wearing it, he was holding the mask that Rose had bought for him. It was deep green with peacock feathers and a cherry blossom branch exploding on one side—the side that covered his face. The other side was only the eyehole.

The water seraph saw little point in having a mask if he was going to wear a blindfold anyway, but Rose was a strange girl with strange tastes. He couldn’t complain; this shadow was fine with it, and he was glad knowing that she could do what she liked with the one she cared so deeply for. She would never admit it, but she did have some feelings for him. Everyone became aware when he sacrificed himself.

“Were you visiting Sorey?” Rose asked, breaking his train of thought. He didn’t respond—how could he when he was just turned out? His heart and body yearned for him, yet he was forced to remain outside. “I take it there was another fight. You guys are going at each other a lot more recently.”

“Join us on the elevator,” Dezel suddenly said. Rose was surprised by the urgency. It wasn’t too out of character, but there was something in his voice that suggested he knew what was going on. When Mikleo stepped in and the elevator began its slow descent to the fourth floor—it had skipped the fourth floor previously—Dezel crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. “You and the Shepherd have never fought so much, correct?”

“Don’t be so formal,” Rose lightly scolded.

“No, it’s only been until recently when he started paying more attention to Oyun,” Mikleo told him. “At first, I didn’t think much of it because Sorey tries to be nice and respectful most of the time. Then he started spending more time thinking about what would make Oyun happy without giving much thought to us.” His voice was cracking. “He’s already hit me once, and he just forbade me from visiting him. I was going to check on Zaveid then head to Oyun’s room.”

“Whoa-whoa-whoa!” Rose stuttered. “ _Sorey_ kicked _you_ out!? Holy crap, this is worse than I thought! I knew that apology wasn’t sincere! I’ll go knock some sense into him right now!”

“Rose, wait,” Dezel interrupted as he latched onto her shoulder. “I can’t tell you much since I would risk my existence, but…Sorey isn’t at fault here. I agree that you should talk with Oyun. Just be careful; he’ll try to get into your head, and if he succeeds, he’ll win.” He rested his hands on Mikleo’s shoulders with a tight grip. “Maintain your purity. Don’t let that bastard grind your sanity down.”

The elevator stopped at the fourth floor. The halls were quiet save for the faint echoing of some strange music coming from their room. Whatever song it was, they were unfamiliar with it. Low and heavy, it filled them with peculiar feelings that twisted their stomachs yet made them want to loosen themselves up. Mikleo was more bothered by it than Rose.

“Rose, Mikleo, you must keep a hold on yourselves!” Dezel warned them.

There was a curious perfume-like smell leaking from underneath the door, the music louder and clearer. Lailah and Edna were catcalling and whistling, but where was Zaveid? Rose opened the door, and a cloud of smoke billowed out of the room like a tank of water breaking and spilling out.

Zaveid had pulled off the leg warmers from his pants, his belts strewn about on the floor while Lailah was beckoning him closer. He got on his hands and knees then crawled to her like some pitiful animal. She hooked her finger into the collar of his shirt. Edna watched them with a devious grin. Effortlessly, Lailah popped the collar open, pushing Zaveid back so he could pull it off. The two of them chased each other around the room while the music continued blasting from what looked like a phonograph before Lailah caught him from behind and coaxed him to slide out of his short pants. He was down to his underwear, and Lailah brought him over to an array of smoking opium pipes.

“What can you say about yourself now, love?” Lailah sweetly, intoxicatedly asked him. “Do you see the power of it? It can make you do anything.”

“What can it not make me do?” Zaveid lulled.

“Nothing, love.”

Lailah unfastened her dress. It fell into a lacey mess around her ankles, and underneath was scarlet lingerie that seemed more like a bondage suit than anything else. Zaveid was overcome with primal desire that grew as he reached for her. He inhaled her scent while hovering around her neck. It had been so long since he had a real chance at anything remotely like this.

“Z-Zaveid, what hell is going on?!” Mikleo cried out over the music after having seen enough.

“Mickey-boy, you’re just in time for the fun to start,” Zaveid chuckled. He was clearly high as a kite, but Lailah and Edna were still lucid enough to glare at them. “Lose the clothes and get into this. It’s more fun when people join in.”

Rose took the needle off the record that was playing while Dezel threw the pipes out into the hall for the twins or some other guest to take. Being a shadow, he couldn’t use the powers of the original blind wind seraph, but he tried everything he could to air out the room of the opium smoke.

“I knew I shouldn’t have left you with them,” Mikleo murmured. “Get your clothes on and go take a bath in Sorey’s room. And you two—I don’t know what the hell happened to you, but don’t you dare do that again. We’re not here to…to do this!”

He was seething. Rose had never seen him like that, and she had to wonder if part of it was the frustration that Sorey wasn’t paying attention to him. Lailah put her dress back on while Edna pretended not to hear him. As Zaveid put his clothes back on, she inched to the door to follow him to Sorey’s room. Rose stood in her way so she couldn’t follow him.

“It’s stifling in here,” Dezel coughed. The smoke was clearing but not fast enough.

Edna scoffed before she and Lailah headed for the door. They shoved Rose out of the way, and at first, she thought they were going after Zaveid, but they turned in the opposite direction to the other rooms. They were dissatisfied that their fun had been cut short; however, it was much more concerning that they were going to another room where they didn’t know who was doing what. Mikleo reached out for them. He wanted to stop them.

“Leave them be,” Rose told him. “They don’t seem too concerned about their own well-being here.” She decided that she had to follow Zaveid to make sure he didn’t get into any trouble, at which point Mikleo was free to pay Oyun a visit.

“Just be careful, okay?” Mikleo said after a long pause. “If Lailah and Edna are susceptible, and with Sorey the way he is, we can’t afford to lose anyone else to the madness dwelling in this place.”

Rose grinned with a thumbs-up. She had an excuse to see Sorey, anyway. She needed to get her mask from him so Oyun wouldn’t try to kick her out. She left the room. While it wouldn’t have taken her long to catch up with Zaveid—groggy from his opiate adventure—there was still a brief moment in between that would never be accounted for.

As Zaveid walked down the hall to the elevator, the twins passed him giggling to themselves, “Two more days, two more days before we can be pretty! Two more days before we can dance and eat!”

They had gone into another guest’s room for housekeeping when Rose found Zaveid. She helped him into the elevator while Dezel offered his shoulder for support. When they had left, the twins came back out and headed to the storeroom. The water seraph was still standing in the hall, and by chance he had looked up to see them. After asking for Oyun’s room, he handed them the pipes.

Mikleo made his way to Oyun’s room. It was different from the dining room where they had had their first talk, but it wasn’t necessarily hard. There was only one door in the whole hotel besides Sorey’s on the seventh floor that was hideously lavished. Oyun’s door was not on the fifth floor but on the sixth floor, contrary to what the water seraph had thought. It was red like ruby with an onyx doorknob. At first, the sight of the door with its etchings of imps and cherubs around its frame and the red color made him lurch. There was something ominous inside, and he began to wonder what lie beyond that door. Would it be Oyun or some demon wearing a mask?

Mikleo controlled himself, knocking with the restraint he was starting to develop when he thought about dealing with Sorey’s behavior. Oyun didn’t answer the door directly; the door clicked open. He cautiously stepped inside.

“Gross, who let this broken seashell in? Oh, wait, I did, the master of this castle,” Oyun antagonized. He was sitting at a long ebony desk with a crossword puzzle that he asked the twins to make for him. “What do you want, seraph? Can’t you see I’m busy?”

“You know damn well why I’m here,” Mikleo bluntly said. “That mask—you did something to it.”

“Boy, do you know how many masks I see a day? You’ll have to be more specific.”

Mikleo held his tongue, simply stating that he was talking about the only person of mutual interest, Sorey. Oyun waved it away, focusing on the puzzle in front of him. A six-letter word for lies. A seven-letter word for discontent. A four-letter word for amorous love.

“Actually, seraph, you might be of some use after all,” the black-clad mayor sighed. “Answer these, and maybe I’ll care about your predicament.”

Mikleo took a seat once Oyun invited him to sit. “Deceit. Disgust. Lust.” The words seemed rather precise given the moment and the character that Oyun displayed. It was fitting. “How interesting that these are the words you’re stuck on. You’d think that a master of _deceit_ would be _disgusted_ with the one in the way of him fulfilling his _lust_.”

Oyun glared at him out of his periphery, tossing the page and pencil aside. He was almost offended that Mikleo had accused him, but the time to debate and arguing wasn’t now. He wanted a peaceful evening in his library-like den.

“Let’s play a little game—a word association game. Say the first thing that comes to your mind. I’ll start.” Oyun leaned back. “Lust.”

“Chastity.”

Oyun was somewhat irked by the candid response, but he wasn’t surprised. Seraphim were the epitome of purity, righteousness, and virtue. They were spotless beings compared to his people, even compared to the Shepherd, the purest of all humans. He couldn’t help but scoff—how could the Shepherd be revered by the common folk and assisted by the seraphim when he was just as tainted? Was it because seraphim were manipulative creatures using humans and all living things just for their own enjoyment? He was determined to beat Mikleo at this game and expose the hypocrisy he preached against.

“Sex,” Oyun said.

“Love,” Mikleo replied cautiously.

“Jealousy.”

“Trust.”

“Obsession.”

The word “obsession” was strange to Mikleo. He didn’t associate anything with it other than compulsions or impulsions, and he was scared to state either one because at this point, he saw the pattern in Oyun’s responses. When he thought about what trust meant, he couldn’t figure out why he had thought obsession other than to force him to say something that would insinuate that he was…

“P-Possessive,” Mikleo reluctantly said.

“Cage.”

“Prison.”

“Insanity.”

“Clarity.”

Oyun paused. He was trying to break out of it. He couldn’t let him escape, not until he makes him admit how poisonous his relationship with a human was! But how could he bend him back into the darkness?

“Crystal.”

“Journey.”

“Danger.”

“Perseverance.”

“Hardship.”

“Reluctance. How long do you plan on doing this?” Mikleo finally asked. Word association games got tiring fast, and he didn’t come there just to spout out whatever words were in his vocabulary. Oyun leaned forward, hinting that he still wanted to continue. “Fine, it’s your turn. Choice.”

“Decision.”

“Sacrifice.”

“Murder.”

“Death.”

Oyun suddenly leaned back with a satisfied smirk on his face like he had won a battle of wits, and while that was what he was aiming for, Mikleo was unnerved by it. The word “death” was a fitting end to the so-called game.

“Rebirth,” Mikleo said. “I couldn’t let it end at ‘death’ simply because death is not an ending.”

The black-clad mayor crossed his arms. “Of course, the ‘honorable’ seraph has to bring up that sham.”

Mikleo remembered why he came there in the first place. He demanded to know why Sorey refused to take off the mask that he had designed for him. Oyun just laughed at him, stating that Sorey was in control of his actions. If he didn’t want to take the mask off, then that was that. But it still didn’t explain why he was so different from even the few hours before they had gone into town to buy things. He regretted hitting him, and he was trying so hard to apologize even though it wasn’t as sincere as Mikleo had hoped. Regardless, the water seraph still loved him. Sorey felt so guilty, but now he didn’t care if Mikleo was in danger.

“I want you to fix this,” Mikleo told him pleadingly. “I want my Sorey back.”

Oyun sighed and rolled his eyes. “I’ve seen a better performance from a wannabe witch,” he mocked. “Seraph, you’re going to learn very fast that you can’t always have what you want. If the Shepherd doesn’t want _you_ , then _you_ can’t have _him_. That’s just how it works in life.”

Mikleo was more hurt than angry because Oyun wasn’t going to submit and order the Shepherd to remove the mask for an hour, much less the rest of the time there. It wouldn’t be according to his code. After all, he was after him, too.

“It was a mistake to come to you for help; you’re the enemy,” he sighed. He stood up from the desk. “I’m not going to give up on him. Don’t think I’m going to hand him over to you.”

“Yes, yes, seraph in rusted armor. Oh, by the way,” Oyun started as he shuffled some papers around the desk. “Here they are. You and your seraph friends and whoever came with you besides the Shepherd will be holding a cabaret show for the other hotel guests, the Shepherd, and me. Here are the scripts. Memorize it by tonight because you’ll be up and early tomorrow rehearsing.”

Mikleo frowned at him, but he couldn’t argue with him. At least they would be doing something besides sitting around watching each other smoke and strip for each other. The cabaret would also prove to be useful. Sorey would be watching him; he might be able to talk to him loud and clear from a stage where his attention would be drawn and kept. He took the scripts into his arms, leaving Oyun’s room without more than cordial thanks.

After the door clicked shut, Oyun smiled to himself. He was weakening his enemy. “Soon, you’ll be just like the rest of us. Without your power, without your vitality, and without the one person who can keep you from vanishing into the abyss,” he hummed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The word association took a little bit of thinking since I've never understood the concept until psychology classes and general pondering. But I'm excited for the cabaret, how about you? :D


	10. Ladies and Gentleman of the Hotel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A brief argument leaves Rose feeling frustrated about Sorey's actions. When she and the wind seraphim return to the storeroom, they find a letter requesting their participation in the upcoming cabaret

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...I forgot that I started this chapter in a erotic scene...but I did want to show that Sorey still cares for Mikleo...just in a different way...

He was moaning as he buried his face in his clothes. His scent filled his being with each breath. His shirt lay open, and the fabric of his cape lightly grazed over his tingling chest. He sucked on his own fingers, squirming on his bed as the heat rose in his abdomen then drained into his legs. He couldn’t control himself; he unbuckled his belts and unfastened the buttons. His emerald eyes, hidden by his mask, were glazing over in burning ecstasy as he pushed his pants over the tent that had formed. No matter how angry he was, he could never hate his smell. He pressed it on himself with need.

“M-More…” he murmured into the cape. “Give me more…” He gasped. “Mikleo…!” he cried out.

The euphoria he felt as he climaxed was short-lived; he had to hide the clothes from Oyun. If he found them, he would throw them out or burn them, and if that happened, the comforting smell of the water seraph would be gone. But even though he continued to be entranced by the aroma, his heart was tugged in opposite directions. He still held some feelings for Mikleo, but the mysterious infatuation with Oyun and the potential for a new relationship beckoned him. He didn’t know when it had started, but it did and he was powerless to fight against the alluring charm of everything black.

A knock sounded at the door, and Sorey hastily hid Mikleo’s clothes under his bedsheets. While fixing himself and his clothes, he approached and opened the door slowly. Rose and Zaveid were there. The latter was holding his head as it cleared from the fog of the opium. Dezel was told to stay in the hallway in case the twins or Oyun were headed to the room.

“Hey, Sorey, can we use your bathroom?” Rose asked. “There was a little bit of a party downstairs, and well, Mikleo suggested that it might be a good idea for Zaveid to—”

“Mikleo sent you here?” Sorey asked her dubiously. “He can’t leave me alone.”

Rose raised an eyebrow. Mikleo had told her that they had gotten into a fight, and she knew it was bad since it had led to Sorey banning Mikleo from his room, but she couldn’t detect any sense of remorse or regret in his voice. He was annoyed.

“If Mikleo said to come here, then I’m sorry, but I’m not letting you in,” Sorey finally told her.

Just as Sorey was about to slam the door shut in her face, she drew a dagger and stabbed it, effectively barring him from locking them out. Her sapphire eyes were boiling red with anger and bloodlust. She pushed the door open.

“All we want is for Zaveid to take a bath and clear his head a bit,” Rose said bluntly. She motioned for the wind seraph to go into the bath without letting Sorey have another say in the matter. As he went in, the assassin-merchant sat in one of the chairs near the door to the suite. She watched her Shepherd friend, glaring at him so intensely that he asked her not to look at him. “You want me to stop looking at you? Why, does it make you uncomfortable? Like you did something wrong? Because I sure as hell hope it does.”

“You can’t speak to me like that,” Sorey barked at her. “I’m the Shepherd. You’re nothing more than an assistant to me just like the seraphim.”

“Is that so? Is that why you feel like you can kick us out or invite us over whenever you feel like it?”

“I didn’t invite you, so I think I’m allowed to tell you to leave. The same goes for Mikleo or anyone who barges in and talks bad about Oyun.”

Rose scoffed. She couldn’t say she was surprised that Oyun was at the center of the mess since he had been stirring up trouble from the beginning, but to think that things had gotten so bad with Sorey that he was more inclined to defend him than anyone else!

“I didn’t invite Mikleo in here, either. He just walked in here while I was sleeping and then started talking about Oyun and how horrible he was. Oyun has done nothing but shown his kindness—”

“Did you forget the argument you two had before? He antagonized Mikleo _in front of you_ , and you _hit him_. Then you cried about it like your feelings got hurt; Edna had to talk you into apologizing, and you didn’t move. Oyun _brought_ Mikleo here so you could give some half-assed apology to him!”

“Oyun was the mediator!”

“Mediator my ass, Sorey! Something is wrong with you. Something is wrong with Lailah and Edna, and if something is wrong with Zaveid now…!”

“Everyone is just having a good time! Loosen up, would you?”

“A good time?” Rose repeated quietly. “What is your definition of a good time? Is it crushing the one you’ve always loved with contempt? Is it ignoring that your friends are preying on each other? Is it refusing to listen to reason? You’re hurting everyone like this, Sorey.”

Looking at Rose irked Sorey to no end. It was bad enough that the one he loved had already reprimanded him, but now he had to listen to the hypocrite that had intended to kill him when he first started his journey. He wondered if Zaveid was going to complain next after his bath.

Instead, Dezel entered the room. He didn’t sense the twins or Oyun in the hallway, deeming it to be safe to enter the room after a while of listening to the shouting match. He had nothing to say to Sorey. He was only interested in talking to Zaveid. Rose gave him clearance despite Sorey telling him to leave, and the shadow entered the bathroom.

Zaveid was relaxing in the tub, his long hair wrapped up in a towel so it wouldn’t become a sopping, tangling mess when he got out. His clothes were hanging on whatever things he could find. He was still feeling sick from the striptease that had started in the storeroom, but Dezel sensed that he would be okay as long as he got rest and avoided any type of substances he wasn’t familiar with.

“Zaveid, are you awake?” Dezel said in a low voice. He couldn’t let Sorey or Rose hear him.

“Dezel? I was wondering what you were doing here,” Zaveid croaked. “ _How_ are you here? You’re supposed to be dead.”

Dezel explained who he really was, and while Zaveid was wary that a shadow—a denizen of this otherworld—had come and made himself a part of their ragtag team, he accepted him. If he was a reflection of whoever Rose wished to see the most, and he was willing to grant that wish, then he was alright. Still, it was a curious power.

“I want to talk with you frankly about what happened.” Dezel took a seat on the edge of the tub. “What happened in the storeroom—”

“I didn’t intend to get caught up in it.”

“I know.”

Dezel went silent for a few seconds. Rose and Sorey were still arguing, and he was keeping a check on the air to make sure that Sorey didn’t hurt her.

“You’re the only one I can tell this to at the moment. Do not get caught up in the vices of this world. Remember who your friends are, what your mission is, and most importantly who you are.”

Zaveid rested his arms on the edge of the tub next to him then lay his head on them. He asked that he explain himself, but the shadow was bound by some contract—not an oath per say—that prevented him from telling him everything.

“Your mission is to assist the Shepherd in defeating the Lord of Calamity, right? Or at least to steer him in the direction away from the path you are familiar with. Your friends—Lailah, Edna, and Sorey—they’ve fallen victim to the evil of this world.”

“What is this evil?”

“I can’t tell you.”

“It’s got something to do with Oyun. That much is obvious.”

Dezel remained silent.

“I was caught off-guard, but it won’t happen again. Wherever you and Rose go, I’ll come along. Lailah and Edna are planning something, and I don’t like the feeling I’m getting from it.”

The shadow turned him down. If Zaveid moved with them, they would seem suspicious in addition to leaving Mikleo vulnerable. The water seraph was the target of Oyun’s hatred. If he was alone, both of them knew he would be in danger.

“I don’t know what Oyun is planning, but please stay with Mikleo,” Dezel implored his senior. “The disconnection with Sorey is taking a toll on him, and Rose and I can’t help him very much.”

Zaveid smirked while stating, “I’ll be the cool dad and beat up anyone that tries to touch him.” Dezel stifled a laugh to stay in character. “But while I’m busy with Mikboy, keep an eye on Sorey. Lailah and Edna aren’t a problem unless you’re alone with them as far as I know now.”

Dezel and Zaveid continued to talk about their budding plan until Rose came into the bathroom. Zaveid had soaked for a longer time than Sorey was comfortable with and was lucid enough to walk back to the room. She had gotten tired of arguing with the Shepherd, and she wanted to tell Mikleo about it. Assuming that Lailah and Edna hadn’t returned yet, the privacy would allow her the perfect environment to vent. Zaveid got dressed while Dezel shielded her eyes from his naked body. She didn’t say anything else to Sorey. She took the masks that he had bought for her and Zaveid then left.

***

When the three of them returned to the storeroom, they found Mikleo resting in a corner of the room. He was holding a striped envelope with a black wax seal. They figured that Oyun had given it to him when he visited his room, or maybe the twins had dropped it off just before he came back. They couldn’t be sure where it came from, only that it was ordinately suspicious. Rose carefully picked the letter from his hands, opening it carefully so she wouldn’t disturb him. Dezel and Zaveid joined her, and they read:

ALL RESIDENTS ON THE FOURTH FLOOR ARE INVITED TO PARTICIPATE IN A SPECIAL CABARET PRECEDING THE ADVENT OF THE NIGHT OF THE MASQUERADE. GUESTS OF VIP RESIDENTS ARE REQUIRED TO PARTICIPATE TO DEMONSTRATE THEIR GRATEFULNESS. REHEARSAL IS IN FIVE HOURS; PLEASE DRESS TO IMPRESS. BE SURE TO WEAR YOUR MASKS. TARDINESS WILL NOT BE TOLERATED! THE DIRECTOR

Rose wrinkled her nose at the idea of being part of a performance meant to put others on a pedestal. Sorey was indeed a VIP resident, and they were indeed grateful for him and his work as the Shepherd, but the entire affair seemed like a cockamamie attempt at embarrassing themselves for a bunch of blowhards. There was no doubt now that Oyun had set it up, and it was most likely in retaliation to Mikleo’s continuous opposition to him if not to belittle all of Sorey’s friends.

“It’s worth checking out,” Dezel said. “Honestly, we could probably use this show to our advantage.”

“Oh yeah?” Zaveid questioned.

“I’m technically not a guest, so I can investigate the hotel which you all put on a show.” The shadow said it somewhat proudly since his friends didn’t have the freedom that he did.

“There’s not much left to uncover,” Rose told him. “But it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have someone on the outside. Alright, Dezel, see what you can find.”

Zaveid let out a sigh. If they were being called to act in a cabaret, then that would mean that Lailah and Edna would be casted as well. He was somewhat uncomfortable; what if the nature of the cabaret was more burlesque like the striptease that he had barely remembered yet cringed about? Then he thought about Mikleo and his promise to take care of him while Sorey was preoccupied. He knew the water seraph would be bothered about performing in front of him. It wasn’t that he would potentially be humiliated but that the humiliation would be more like some form of debauchery, a sick sense of humor that wasn’t Sorey’s type of entertainment. In fact, no matter how many lewd or even remotely suggestive comments Zaveid had made in the past, Sorey never caught on to them—he was oblivious to that kind of stuff unless Mikleo was somehow involved. Even then, the Shepherd was too pure for his own benefit.

Mikleo roused after hearing his friends discuss the casting call. Next to him were enough copies of the script for everyone but Dezel, and he handed one each to them. The script wasn’t very long, thankfully, but after skimming the pages, the three of them were somewhat disturbed. The play or musical that was detailed in their hands was called The _Evening Boy and the Morning Star_ written by none other than Oyun. In fact, it seemed to have been written maybe tens of hours ago. The specific roles were too spot-on to not be biased perceptions of the Shepherd’s friends, and as they read further and further into the lines and musical numbers, they found that the show was nothing more than a child’s attempt at writing an erotic murder mystery. It was almost like a parody.

“Do we really have to do this?” Rose asked. She pinched the script as if it were a bag of rancid garbage.

“If you want any information on Sorey and Oyun, then yes,” Dezel told her.

“It…could be fun…I guess,” Zaveid tried to motivate himself.

Mikleo let out a sigh as he silently tied his mask to his face while Rose and Zaveid followed suit. On the very back of the script, there was a destination for the rehearsal. They left Dezel to his own devices, making their way to the rehearsal on the second floor in one of the ballrooms.

There were plenty of extras for the cabaret, and Lailah and Edna were already warming up by stretching and vocalizing. When they spotted Zaveid, they immediately looked ravenous.

“Ugh, they haven’t gotten any better,” Rose criticized. She pushed Zaveid and Mikleo to the side of the dressing area.

“Places, everyone! Places!” a shrill, operetta-like voice called. “Haste leaves no waste; we must use all our time to practice and deliver one of the best shows we can muster! Where in blazes is our lead?”

A shadow woman with a barrel-shaped body but large breasts turned in all directions. On her massive hawk nose was a tiny mask. Just like the other shadows, she was completely black save for her blonde wig.

“Ah, there you are!” she happily chirped after finding Mikleo. “Come, my brilliant Evening Star! You must practice as much as your body can handle and more! You are the showstopper!”

The woman pulled Mikleo towards one of the dressing rooms so someone could put makeup on him. They had been told that they would be rehearsing until show time, and the idea was that by putting on the real makeup now, the crew would only have to touch it up later. He failed to see the point of it since they would be wearing their masks anyway. On the contrary, his makeup only consisted of thick powder and a small black spade drawn on the center of his lips.

As the crew prepared Mikleo for his acting debut, Lailah and Edna made their way over to Rose and Zaveid, circling around them like diseased vultures. Lailah particularly was interested in the muscular wind seraph.

“Are you excited to be working on this production with us?” she asked him. “After all, it’s supposed to be a little on the risqué side, and we both know how interested you were in our little…dance…earlier.”

Zaveid smirked at her. She at first thought he was looking forward to it, but after Zaveid dropped his arm around Rose’s shoulder—much to her chagrin—she scowled at them under her mask. His face suddenly darkened while he glared deep into her eyeholes, and he said in a threatening voice:

“I may have allowed myself to be indulged in whatever it was you brought to the room, but don’t think I’m going to give in again.”

“Sounds like you grew a pair,” Edna scoffed. “Enjoy it while you can. You won’t be saying that when the masquerade begins.”

Rose narrowed her eyes at her. The masks were the source of these strange desires, and she was certain that once the masquerade began, it would become a free-for-all.

The Director clapped twice, and the crew disappeared into their quarters. The lights turned off. The room, devoid of the candlelit tables and chairs that would soon create a labyrinth within it, was pitch black. A spotlight turned on, revealing Mikleo on the stage by himself surrounded by extras dressed as black trees. Everything was black; he wasn’t surprised. Even his costume shrouded him in darkness.

The shadow woman directed the rehearsals, and the seraphim and Squire followed their directions. Rose, Zaveid, and Mikleo had to endure it until the opening, and they hoped that they could use the play to their advantage.

After the next few arduous hours, it was show time. The VIP residents at the hotel filed in, Sorey and Oyun mixed in the masses; Sorey’s hands were wrapped around Oyun’s forearm. They took a seat in the center of the room, and their candle spontaneously lit up. The curtains lifted. Mikleo was center stage, his heart pounding in his chest. His eyes fell on Sorey. He had to snap him back to normal before the end of the play.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next three chapters are going to be written in a different format, so it might be strange. I'm using one of my favorite plays as a template, so hopefully it works out.


	11. Act 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Evening Boy discovers his love for a star one night and enlists the help of the Village Crazy and her Imaginary Man to reach it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ladies and Gentlemen, shadows of the night, creatures of the dark! Come one, come all to a wonderful rendition of tonight's play, _The Evening Boy and the Morning Star_!

[ _The Evening Boy sat on the ground and stared out at the stars in a dark wood just a few paces from the edge of his village. The rest of the village had turned in for the night, leaving him to gaze at their beauty in peaceful, quiet solitude. He looked longingly at one star in the distance, and he wished he could reach out and grasp it in his hand. His heartbeat resonated through the woods outside of his village. He stood up from where he was sitting. Small in stature and slender like a model, the Evening Boy was not an imposing figure. Despite how unthreatening he was, he was determined to get to that star by whatever means necessary._ ]

MIKLEO: The stars are so beautiful tonight, but that one in the center is more beautiful than the rest. [ _He reached out towards the audience._ ] Oh, bright star, will you come to this earth and be mine? [ _He pulled his hand slowly back to his chest. There was a hopeless, defeated look on his face. _] No, I guess you can’t. After all, you’re a star, and stars can only exist in the sky. If only there was a way to come to you, and maybe then I can bring you safely here and shower you with…my love.__

[ _The Evening Boy pondered about what to do to meet the star that had stolen his heart. Wracking his brain, he tapped his finger to his lips. He decided that he wouldn’t rest until he found a way to get to the star, or at the very least found someone who had that capacity. One by one the villagers rose from their houses in the early hours of the morning, stretching and yawning from a good night’s sleep. The morning had come, yet the star that the Evening Boy had fallen in love with remained, glittering and dazzling in the sky. The villagers all came from their houses to the center of the village to view the star with malicious greed brewing in their hearts._ ] 

VILLAGER 1: How odd! It’s morning, and yet the star still shines! 

VILLAGER 2: How lovely! That star shines brighter than the rest! 

VILLAGER 3: How curious! If that star shines too much for too long, who is to say that it won’t die out? After all, stars are just as mortal as humans! 

VILLAGER 4: How intriguing and simply marvelous! If anyone were to bring that star to earth, we could make all our dreams come true! 

VILLAGER 5: Why, that’s not a bad idea. If we bring the star to earth, we will all be bloody rich! No more porridge and slop for our three meals a day! We could have filet mignon and escargot! We could build our houses from marble and granite instead of hay and sticks! 

MIKLEO [ _frightened_ ]: How can you all think like that? You make it sound like the star is some big game animal! It’s not a trophy! It’s something to love and cherish! [ _He weaved in and out of the crowd of villagers. He pulled on their arms to make them give up trying to steal the star for themselves, but each villager pushed him out of the way as they stared hungrily, greedily at the star._ ] I…I beg of you, let me have that star… [ _He turned to the star._ ] If I could have that star, it wouldn’t be abused by the masses.

____

VILLAGER 1: Tell me, boy, what makes you so special that you deserve the star? 

____

MIKLEO [ _dejected_ ]: I…I don’t know. I think I’m in love with it. And after all, you people seem to think it’s a valuable treasure instead of a unique being. 

____

VILLAGER 2: In love! With a star! Preposterous! [ _She opened her fan and hid her face._ ] To be in love with a star is like having sex with a table—you just can’t! 

____

VILLAGER 5: You obviously haven’t tried. Anything with a hole can be fornicated with! 

____

MALE VILLAGERS: Hear, hear! 

____

VILLAGER 6: And anything possessing a hole ought to be penetrated with a gallant spear. 

____

FEMALE VILLAGERS: Hear, hear! 

____

MIKLEO: That’s disgusting. 

____

VILLAGER 2: Boy, you would be better off prostituting yourself or marrying a whore! Why, do you even know what it means to love? 

____

MIKLEO: I don’t know what love feels like, but for just a moment, I felt my heart skip a beat. My chest felt tight, and I was filled with bittersweet longing. 

____

VILLAGER 5: What a stupid boy. Don’t you know that it’s not love unless you feel it down south? There’d be an uncontrollable urge in the pit of your stomach to pull that star down and pierce it like an arrow. That, boy, is love. All this hogwash of tight feeling in the chest—that’s probably a heart attack, which is very different from love. 

____

VILLAGER 3: Perhaps that star attacks the heart with love? Or rather, infatuation. Either way, the only true sign of love is the primal desire to hold your body atop it like a rutting dog. 

____

[ _The Evening Boy shook his head. He was frightened by how violent love was as defined by the villagers, but as he walked away from them back to the dark wood, he wondered if love did not have to be violent. Night fell. The other stars came out. The Evening Boy searched the sky for the Morning Star, and when he found it, he smiled at it._ ] 

____

MIKLEO: It’s not true. I can love you without feeling the urge to hurt you. I’ll prove it to you. I’ll bring you to the earth, and we’ll live together in a small house, and I’ll take care of you for as long as I live (which it a long time). I’ll always make you happy even if it makes me sad. 

____

[ _The Evening Boy turned around at a sudden rustling in the bushes. The leaves crunched under someone’s feet behind him. A woman, the Village Crazy, emerged from the darkness within the trees, a burly Imaginary Man standing behind her like a guardian. Her was red like wine, and she wore peculiar clothing. The Imaginary Man behind her was half-naked._ ] 

____

ROSE: You really are in love with that star, huh? I can’t blame you. It’s a real beauty. Wouldn’t it be something if you could fly to it and embrace it? 

____

[ _The Evening Boy looked away from the Village Crazy and toward the star. He brought his hands to his chest as he dreamed about flying into the sky. He looked back at the Village Crazy and her Imaginary Man._ ] 

____

MIKLEO [ _pleadingly_ ]: Please, you must help me get to the star! No one has thought of flying there except you! Surely you can build something to fly me to that star! 

____

ROSE: What? No! I can’t possibly help you get to the star! It’s impossible for humans like us! And I never said I could do anything to help you! 

____

MIKLEO [ _desperately_ ]: Please, I beg of you! If I don’t’ get to the star first, the other villagers will hunt it down and abuse it with their wishes! I can’t allow them to destroy that star with their greed and lust! 

____

[ _The Village Crazy thought about it. She believed that the Evening Boy had a pure heart, but she knew better than to outright trust someone she had just met. She consulted her Imaginary Man about the situation. The Imaginary Man was tall and muscular with long white hair and green tips. He had a pessimistic, distrustful outlook on life. He was the epitome of caution._ ] 

____

ROSE: What do you think? Should I help this boy? 

____

ZAVEID: This boy is certainly earnest and yearning, but is he honest? Who is to say he doesn’t have ill intentions for the star? What makes him different from the other people in the village? I advise you exercise caution with this boy. Don’t let him out of your sight. 

____

ROSE: Got it. [ _She turned to the Evening Boy._ ] Alright, boy, I’ll help you. 

____

MIKLEO [ _immensely grateful_ ]: You don’t know how happy I am! Now, how should we get to the star? 

____

ROSE: Well, we should build some sort of contraption that will carry us into the sky. I call it—a rocket ship! I will use the power of our imagination to fly into the sky, and once we get close enough to the star, we can attach it to the ship and bring it with us. 

____

MIKLEO: How should we make it? 

____

ROSE: We can build it out of bamboo and wood, just like the old legend about the girl born inside of a bamboo shoot who came from the moon. 

____

ZAVEID: I don’t think that’s physically possible. 

____

ROSE: We have to try! Boy, good into the woods and find the bamboo! We shall look for the wood! 

____

[ _The Village Crazy and the Imaginary Man headed off in a different direction in search of the wood needed for the rocket. The Evening Boy went deeper into the woods for the bamboo. He found it in the center of the woods, but there were two other people standing near the thicket. Carmen and Amelie were two of the prettiest women in the village. Carmen had long white hair with red tips, and she had a reputation of being a black widow or a siren. Amelia was blonde hair with golden tips and was known for her precocious wit. The two women were strangers to the innocent Evening Boy, but they wanted to quickly become more than just friends with him._ ] 

____

LAILAH: My, what have we here? A lost little boy with a heart of gold? What a delicious looking morsel! My dear Amelie, what do you think? 

____

EDNA: Positively scrumptious. We should bid him closer. [ _She waved at the Evening Boy._ ] Hello, dear lost boy. What brings you to this side of the woods? 

____

MIKLEO: Lost? I’m not lost. I need the bamboo that’s behind you. I’m building a rocket ship to fly to a star. 

____

LAILAH: A rocket ship? 

____

EDNA: Fly to a star? 

____

LAILAH: Oh, you’re a funny one, aren’t you? 

____

MIKLEO: I don’t see anything funny about it. I just need the bamboo, so if you could kindly move— 

____

EDNA: Flying to a star is quite a feat for someone your age. How would you possibly fuel it? How would it survive breaching the sky? It would be made of wood that bursts into flame in a heartbeat. Boy, you should leave it to the nonexistent astrophysicists and star hunters in the village. 

____

LAILAH: Yes, why don’t you come with us? We can have a lovely night together. In fact, we can help you grow into a man. You may not like it at first, but trust me, you get used to the feeling after a while. 

____

MIKLEO: What? No, I just need the bamboo. I need to get to that star. 

____

EDNA: My, what a resilient little boy. Carmen, why don’t you try that song you were practicing? The one that is sure to capture the hearts of men? 

____

LAILAH: That’s not a bad idea, Amelie! 

____

[ _Carmen cleared her throat. Back in her day, she was an opera singer with phenomenal capabilities that surpassed even the best. Because she lived in this old village, no one ever knew her name or talent. Her voice was her weapon, her bait, her trap for all the men who were blessedly cursed to hear it._ ] 

____

LAILAH: This is a song that I learned from a different land. Please, listen and enjoy. “ _Il dolce suono mi colpì di sua voce!/Ah quella voce/M’è qui nel cor discesa!/Edgardo! Io ti son risa, Edgardo!/Ah! Edgardo, mio!/Si, ti son resa fuggita io son da’ tuoi nemici/Ah! Nemici!/Un gelo mi serpeggia nel sen!/Trema ogni fibra!/Vacilla il piè!/Presso la fonte meco t’assidi alquanto/Si, presso la fonte meco t’assidi._ ” 

____

[ _Carmen began to vocalize her song, engrossing the Evening Boy and slowly entrancing him. Her voice carried through the woods, and the Village Crazy and the Imaginary Man heard her in the distance. They rushed back to the woods, going deeper and deeper until they came to the thicket. The Village Crazy did not see a beautiful woman standing in front of the Evening Boy but a one-eyed sea serpent that was coiling its tail around his body. Amelie was not a girl but a jester-looking demon. The Imaginary Man blew Carmen and Amelie back, releasing the Evening Boy from her siren song._ ] 

____

LAILAH: How dare you! 

____

EDNA: You’re going to pay for that! 

____

MIKLEO [ _dazedly, holding his head_ ]: What happened? 

____

ROSE: Boy, we need to leave! 

____

ZAVEID: These girls are nothing but trouble 

____

ROSE: We have enough wood to make the rocket! Let us be on our way to the star! 

____

[ _The Village Crazy and the Imaginary Man pulled the Evening Boy to safety on the edge of the woods. Carmen and Amelie followed them, chasing them like rabid dogs. Carmen was especially angry that her song didn’t work to charm him, or perhaps that she had been interrupted during it. Amelie was more annoyed than angry; the people in the village were boring and dirty. The Evening Boy was new and exciting, just the person to tickle her fancy. The Evening Boy would bring endless entertainment whether or not he lay with Carmen. The Village Crazy, however, was adamant about not allowing them to sully the heart of the Evening Boy. The Imaginary Man believe that his pure heart was the key to helping the ship fly. As they neared the edge of the woods, Carmen and Amelie swore that they would have their revenge._ Exeunt.]

____

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Intermission time.
> 
> The Italian lyrics is from the Diva Dance from Fifth Element. This was greatly influence by a Series of Unfortunate Events episode 2, and the format follows A Streetcar Named Desire. Carmen's character is based on the opera and the sea serpent from Courage the Cowardly Dog. Amelie is based on the character from the French movie Amelie.

**Author's Note:**

> First chapters are always hard...I've also started trying to learn the Ancient Tongue, and from what I can glean, it's a letter-for-letter translation. I believe the Tumblr that had the cipher for it is called Arisha's Temple...
> 
> EDIT: Upped the rating in anticipation for later chapters


End file.
